Literature Review

A qualitative study of chaplains spiritual care for persons with dementia in long-term careJournal of Applied Gerontology; by Meganne K. Masko, Sarah McEvoy, Jung Kwak, Kathryn Lyndes, Alexia M. Torke, Shelley Varner Perez, George Fitchett; 12/25This study explored how chaplains provide spiritual care for residents with dementia in long-term care, which is not well understood. We conducted six separate semi-structured focus groups with a total of 16 chaplains who provide care for people with dementia in long-term care facilities across the U.S. Two main themes emerged: the broad and multifaceted role of chaplains in long-term care, including responsibilities to residents, staff, and family, and dementia-specific spiritual care adaptations and delivery practices, including learning through experience, using multisensory tools, relying on presence, music, and emotional resonance. Chaplains’ adaptive, person-centered spiritual care for residents with dementia highlights the need for dementia-informed chaplaincy training and greater integration of chaplaincy into interdisciplinary care planning in long-term care settings.

Fly fishing support group provides new angle on grief processing: The grieving can find peace in the rhythm of fishingTimes Courier, Ellijay, GA; by Jackson Elliott; 1/28/26 Few people understand grief like a hospice chaplain. “I’ve experienced about 5,000 deaths,” former hospice chaplain Rick Gillert said. “And I’ve helped those families and patients through the grieving process." “‘I had this idea in the back of my head of combining professional grief care with fly fishing,” he said. During his time as a hospice chaplain, he would often seek peace from the difficulty of the work by going fishing the next day. “I can almost imagine my anxieties, my worries as leaves falling on the water and washing away,” Gillert said. In his program, clients join a group and go through a 10-week course on fly fishing, processing grief and coping skills.

How do I tell my patient they’re dying? Medscape; by Lisa Mulcahy; 1/27/26 Ruth Parry, PhD, still remembers a conversation she mishandled as a junior National Health Service stroke rehabilitation physiotherapist many years ago. ... Since then, Parry has analyzed nearly 100 video consultations between practitioners and patients with poor prognoses in stroke and head injury and with terminal diagnoses. Her research explores a critical clinical dilemma: How do doctors navigate the delicate balance of providing fair, accurate information about dire prognoses while respecting a patient’s feelings and personal choices?

Husband with Parkinson's was admitted into at-home hospice program and has dramatically improved. Have others experienced this? Aging Care; by Klwolf; 1/21/26 My DH has Parkinson’s that has been getting progressively worse for months. In early December we had him assessed for hospice and he was admitted. Since then, he’s improved dramatically. Has anyone else experienced dramatic improvement AFTER hospice enrollment? The hospice staff simply shrugs and says this sometimes happens and that we need to be prepared for him to revert back to his previous state. Editor's Note: Many clinicians have seen individuals improve after hospice enrollment, often due to better symptom control, reduced stress, or consistent interdisciplinary care. The concern here is not the improvement itself, but the hospice team’s reported response. A shrug can feel dismissive to families already living with uncertainty. How do we teach teams to communicate about improvement—honoring hope while preparing families with clarity, compassion, and trust?

An Anderson Township nursing home patient died of natural causes — until the coroner called it homicide ABC WCPO-9, Cincinnati / Anderson Township, OH; by Dan Monk; 1/21/26 An Anderson Township nursing home is under scrutiny after a patient’s death was changed from natural causes to homicide by the Hamilton County Coroner. Robert Meyer was a patient at Forest Hills Healthcare Center, ... He died on Sept. 6, 2025, soon after being transferred to a hospice facility in Blue Ash. No autopsy was conducted because the original death certificate said Meyer died of natural causes. However, as his funeral approached, his daughter raised concerns about his care at Forest Hills. Tammy Maham sent the coroner pictures of neck bruises that Meyer incurred in the days before his death. That led to Meyer’s disinterment, a Sept. 22 autopsy and a revised death certificate that lists “physical elder abuse” as the immediate cause of death by homicide.

If you think you don't need a chaplain, reconsider Parkview Health | Family Medicine, Diseases & Disorders, Fort Wayne, IN; by Karen Kosberg, chaplain, Parkview Hospice; 1/18/26"I'm not religious." "I don't need anyone preaching at me.""I don't want a chaplain yet!"These are some of the responses I have heard over the years as a hospice chaplain. These statements are reactions to the offer of a visit. So once and for all, let's answer the question: Why a chaplain? ...Editor's Note: Continue reading this excellent description of our too-often-neglected hospice chaplains. Reach out to learn more about your hospice chaplains. Find meaningful ways to thank and honor them.

New clinical ministry degree for those called to become chaplains AdventHealth, Orlando, FL; by Jennifer Audette; 1/12/26 Chaplains are an integral part of the healing process. They are with patients and families at their most vulnerable moments, and health care organizations are in profound need of board-certified chaplains. To meet this need, AdventHealth University will begin offering a Master of Arts in Clinical Ministry degree in Fall 2026. ... The graduate degree program, which is 100 percent online, is grounded in theology, ethics, and psychology. Courses include Grief & Loss, Narrative Counseling, and World Religions. The Clinical Ministry degree ... can serve as an academic bridge for those who plan to go on to pursue certification through organizations such as the Board of Certified Chaplains Inc.

How honoring patient autonomy prevents medical trauma Medpage Today's KevinMD.com; by Sheryl J. Nicholson; 1/11/26 Holding my mother in my arms as she took her last breath changed the way I understand care. That moment ... was heartbreaking and transformative. Her unwavering faith and peaceful passing contrasted sharply with the confusion that followed when CPR began despite her do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order. I felt helpless. The experience became the catalyst for my commitment to advocacy and ethical clarity. It taught me that even well-intentioned interventions can violate patient autonomy and erode trust when systems fail to honor advance directives. ... Ethical implications: autonomy and systemic gaps ... Actionable steps for clinicians: ...

Reconnecting at the end: The healing power of nature in hospice and palliative care ehospice; by Dr. Owen Wiseman; 1/5/26 ... Humans are wired to feel better in nature. We feel calmer when we see the colour green or hear water flowing from a stream nearby. ... Evidence shows that simply viewing nature can reduce pain, anxiety, and stress. In one of the most-cited studies, patients recovering from surgery who had window views of nature used 21% fewer pain medications and shortened hospital stays. ... I’ve had a front-row seat to the power of nature in palliative care, both professionally and personally. ...Small Ways to Bring Nature In - Not every hospice or palliative care space has access to large gardens or forests. That said, nature can still find a way in:

Interprofessional collaboration between hospital-based palliative care teams and hospital ward staff: A realist review PLoS One; by Louana Moons, Fouke Ombelet, Mieke Deschodt, Maaike L De Roo, Eva Oldenburger, Inge Bossuyt, Peter Pype; 12/19/25  Conclusion: This realist review highlights the complexity of interprofessional collaboration between PCTs and ward staff, emphasizing the importance of tailored approaches that address specific contextual needs, expectations, and norms. Strengthening positive attitudes, clarifying roles, and fostering partnerships can enhance interprofessional collaboration, ultimately improving palliative care quality in hospital settings.

End-of-life care needs cultural humility and social justice BMJ; by Jamilla Akhter Hussain, Rekha Vijayshankar, and Mary Hodgson; 12/18/25 Death, dying, and grief are not medical events—they are profoundly social, relational, and shaped by the histories people carry into their final days. ... [A] key question is: how can end-of-life care services become more trustworthy? Too often, institutions respond with so-called cultural competency initiatives. ... What is needed is cultural humility and social justice. Cultural humility involves ongoing self-reflection and acknowledgement of bias at individual, organisational, and system levels. Palliative care must prioritise cultural humility and social justice: trust grows not through outreach alone but through shared creation of knowledge, meaning, and care—and at the end of life ...

The results are in: Palliative care professionals share how they’re doing in 2025Center to Advance Palliative Care - CAPC; by Rachael Heitner, MPH; 12/16/25 CAPC’s second annual Palliative Pulse survey offers insight on how palliative care professionals across the country are feeling this year and what they’re focused on—see how they responded. ... In this blog, we share four key findings from participants’ self-reports and take a closer look at the data behind each one. ...

'Music makes everything better': Austin doctor spins vinyl to give patients a sense of home KUT 90.5, Austin, TX; by Olivia Aldridge; 12/16/25 Lying in her bed at Dell Seton Medical Center, 64-year-old Pamela Mansfield sways her feet to the rhythm of George Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care.” Mansfield is still recovering much of her mobility after a recent neck surgery, but she finds a way to move to the music floating from a record player that was just wheeled into her room. “Seems to be the worst part is the stiffness in my ankles and the no feeling in the hands,” she says. “But music makes everything better.” Mansfield was being visited by the ATX-VINyL program, a project dreamed up by Dr. Tyler Jorgensen to bring music to the bedside of patients dealing with difficult diagnoses and treatments. He collaborates with a team of volunteers who wheel the player on a cart to patients’ rooms, along with a selection of records in their favorite genres.