Organizations have offered executive coaching to their senior leaders for several decades and report improvement in performance, leadership, self-efficacy, and goal attainment. Despite this success, ...little research exists on coaching programs for faculty who may also benefit from this resource. We sought to develop, implement, and evaluate a professional development coaching program for diverse graduate faculty at a health professions university.
We implemented a professional development coaching program to provide one-on-one support for interested faculty. Faculty were offered four 1-hour or eight half-hour sessions each academic semester by eight trained volunteer coaches unaffiliated with the university. We had 67 faculty members participate across the academic year. They were asked to complete a brief impact survey at the end of each semester.
The coaches provided 378 sessions, totaling 281 hours of coaching. Survey results revealed that coaching was effective in helping faculty achieve their professional goals and empowered them for future professional success. Faculty were highly satisfied with the program.
There is early evidence that professional development coaching can help faculty reach their professional goals and add value to an institution. The program may be a helpful model for developing and implementing coaching programs on other campuses.
Learning communities have been shown to help strengthen teaching skills, innovation, and scholarship. We sought to understand the impact of an online teaching community among interprofessional ...graduate faculty at a health professions university, notably in the context of COVID-19.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore's Online Teaching Community (OTC) was created in 2019 to provide peer-to-peer faculty support and resources for effective online teaching. The OTC meets monthly, online, for a 1-hour informal discussion including a 30-minute topical presentation related to online teaching. A brief impact survey was completed in May 2020, as well as a live poll in January 2021.
Membership doubled after the first year; the OTC becoming particularly relevant after COVID-19, including individuals across seven professional schools on campus. Faculty reported enjoying the sense of community, feeling supported as an online instructor, and learning strategies and sharing resources for online instruction.
An OTC can support, unite, and equip interprofessional graduate faculty members to teach online. The OTC described may be a helpful model for developing and implementing OTCs on other campuses.
Intervention studies have found that psychotherapeutic interventions that explicitly integrate clients' spiritual and religious beliefs in therapy are as effective, if not more so, in reducing ...depression than those that do not for religious clients. However, few empirical studies have examined the effectiveness of religiously (vs. spiritually) integrated psychotherapy, and no manualized mental health intervention had been developed for the medically ill with religious beliefs. To address this gap, we developed and implemented a novel religiously integrated adaptation of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for the treatment of depression in individuals with chronic medical illness. This article describes the development and implementation of the intervention. First, we provide a brief overview of CBT. Next, we describe how religious beliefs and behaviors can be integrated into a CBT framework. Finally, we describe Religiously Integrated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (RCBT), a manualized therapeutic approach designed to assist depressed individuals to develop depression-reducing thoughts and behaviors informed by their own religious beliefs, practices, and resources. This treatment approach has been developed for 5 major world religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism), increasing its potential to aid the depressed medically ill from a variety of religious backgrounds.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ
Background
We compared the effectiveness of religiously integrated cognitive behavioral therapy (RCBT) versus standard CBT (SCBT) on increasing optimism in persons with major depressive disorder ...(MDD) and chronic medical illness.
Methods
Participants aged 18–85 were randomized to either RCBT (n = 65) or SCBT (n = 67) to receive ten 50‐min sessions remotely (94% by telephone) over 12 weeks. Optimism was assessed at baseline, 12 and 24 weeks by the Life Orientation Test‐Revised. Religiosity was assessed at baseline using a 29‐item scale composed of religious importance, individual religious practices, intrinsic religiosity, and daily spiritual experiences. Mixed effects growth curve models were used to compare the effects of treatment group on trajectory of change in optimism.
Results
In the intention‐to‐treat analysis, both RCBT and SCBT increased optimism over time, although there was no significant difference between treatment groups (B = –0.75, SE = 0.57, t = –1.33, P = .185). Analyses in the highly religious and in the per protocol analysis indicated similar results. Higher baseline religiosity predicted an increase in optimism over time (B = 0.07, SE = 0.02, t = 4.12, P < .0001), and higher baseline optimism predicted a faster decline in depressive symptoms over time (B = −0.61, SE = 0.10, t = −6.30, P < .0001), both independent of treatment group.
Conclusions
RCBT and SCBT are equally effective in increasing optimism in persons with MDD and chronic medical illness. While baseline religiosity does not moderate this effect, religiosity predicts increases in optimism over time independent of treatment group.
Abstract
Despite a growing interest in the relationship between religion and spirituality (RS) and mental health across helping professions, less is known about clients’ perceived relevance of these ...areas. This article describes the development and validation of the Relevance of Religion and Spirituality to Mental Health (RRSMH) scale, and responses to the first national survey of clients’ perceived relevance of RS to mental health. Specifically, a sample of 989 U.S. adults who saw a mental health care provider in the last month responded to an online survey that included 27 new items to measure clients’ perceptions of the relevance of RS to mental health, both positive and negative. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the sample’s data had an adequate fit to the final 12-item model, and the instrument’s overall reliability was very good (α = .96). Descriptive analyses indicated that clients view RS as both supportive and relevant to their mental health. The RRSMH scale may be used in mental health research and practice settings. Authors recommend that RS be assessed and included in treatment planning, where appropriate, and addressed in training for mental health professionals.
Purpose
Spiritual care is an important part of healthcare, especially when facing the crisis of advanced cancer. Do oncology inpatients receive spiritual care consistent with their needs? When ...inconsistent, are there deleterious effects on patient outcomes?
Methods
Patients with advanced cancer (
N
= 150) were surveyed during their inpatient stay at a southeastern medical center using validated instruments documenting spirituality, quality of life, mood, and satisfaction with care. Relationships between the receipt of less spiritual care than desired and patient outcomes were examined.
Results
Almost all patients had spiritual needs (91%) and the majority desired and received spiritual care from their healthcare providers (67%; 68%), religious community (78%; 73%), and hospital chaplain (45%; 36%). However, a significant subset received less spiritual care than desired from their healthcare providers (17%), religious community (11%), and chaplain (40%); in absolute terms, the number who received less care than desired from one or more sources was substantial (42 of 150). Attention to spiritual care would improve satisfaction with care while hospitalized for 35% of patients. Patients who received less spiritual care than desired reported more depressive symptoms adjusted
β
(SE) = 1.2 (0.47),
p
= 0.013 and less meaning and peace adjusted
β
(SE) = −2.37 (1.15),
p
= 0.042.
Conclusions
A substantial minority of patients did not receive the spiritual care they desired while hospitalized. When spiritual needs are not met, patients are at risk of depression and reduced sense of spiritual meaning and peace. Spiritual care should be matched to cancer patients’ needs.
Spiritual Competency Training in Mental Health (SCT-MH) is an eight-module online training program with initial support for the effectiveness of promoting facets of foundational competence for ...addressing clients' religion and/or spirituality (R/S) in mental health practice (Pearce et al., 2020). Focusing on 181 mental health professionals who completed SCT-MH for continuing education, the purpose of this brief report was to replicate and expand upon findings from Pearce et al.'s (2020) initial evaluation of the training program. Participants completed validated measures of basic attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to R/S competence at pre- and posttraining, along with intrinsic religiousness and prior training in R/S competence at baseline. In keeping with Pearce et al. (2020), the participants, on average, reported significant improvements across the areas of R/S competence assessed in this study. In addition, these outcomes were not moderated by participants' personal backgrounds (gender, race, intrinsic religiousness) or prior professional training in R/S competence. Overall, these findings further support the effectiveness of SCT-MH for establishing foundational attitudes, knowledge, and skills among mental health professionals to attend to spiritual and/or religious dimensions of clients' lives in routine clinical practice.
Public Significance Statement
This study found that the eight-module online training program, Spiritual Competency Training in Mental Health (SCT-MH), was effective in improving basic attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to religious and spiritual competency for mental health professionals who completed the course. In addition, findings suggest that all participants regardless of personal backgrounds (gender, race, intrinsic religiousness) or prior professional training in religious and spiritual competence benefited and improved from the SCT-MH course.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ
Over the last several years, there has been a growing interest in clients’ views toward integrating their religion and spirituality (RS) into mental health treatment. However, most of these studies ...have been limited to small samples and specific populations, regions, and/or clinical issues. This article describes the first national survey of current mental health clients across the US regarding their attitudes towards integrating their RS in treatment using a revised version of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale-Client Attitudes, version 2 (RSIPAS-CAv2) with a sample of 989 clients. Our findings indicate mental health clients have overwhelmingly positive attitudes regarding integrating their RS into mental health treatment. Additionally, we explored what background characteristics predict clients’ attitudes toward this area of practice and found the top predictor was their intrinsic religiosity, followed by whether they had previously discussed RS with their current provider, age, gender, organized and non-organized religious activities, belief in God/Higher Power, and frequency of seeing their mental health provider. The reliability and validity of the RSIPAS-CAv2 was also explored and this scale is recommended for future use. Implications and recommendations for practice, research, and future training efforts are discussed.
Abstract Objective Religious involvement may help individuals with chronic medical illness cope better with physical disability and other life changes. We examine the relationships between ...religiosity, depressive symptoms, and positive emotions in persons with major depression and chronic illness. Methods 129 persons who were at least somewhat religious/spiritual were recruited into a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of religious vs. secular cognitive behavioral therapy. Reported here are the relationships at baseline between religious involvement and depressive symptoms, purpose in life, optimism, generosity, and gratefulness using standard measures. Results Although religiosity was unrelated to depressive symptoms (F = 0.96, p = 0.43) and did not buffer the disability–depression relationship (B = − 1.56, SE 2.90, p = 0.59), strong relationships were found between religious indicators and greater purpose, optimism, generosity, and gratefulness (F = 7.08, p < 0.0001). Conclusions Although unrelated to depressive symptoms in the setting of major depression and chronic medical illness, higher religious involvement is associated with positive emotions, a finding which may influence the course of depression over time.
Despite the well-known stress of medical school, including adverse consequences for mental and behavioral health, there is little consensus about how to best intervene in a way that accommodates ...students׳ intense training demands, interest in science, and desire to avoid being stigmatized. The objective of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and initial effectiveness of an adapted, four-week stress management and self-care workshop for medical students, which was based on the science and practice of mind–body medicine.
The current study used a prospective, observational, and mixed methods design, with pretest and posttest evaluations. Participants (n = 44) included medical and physician-scientist (MD/PhD) students from a large, southeastern medical school. Feasibility was assessed by rates of workshop enrollment and completion. Acceptability was assessed using qualitative ratings and open-ended responses that queried perceived value of the workshop. Quantitative outcomes included students׳ ratings of stress and mindfulness using validated self-report surveys.
Enrollment progressively increased from 6 to 15 to 23 students per workshop in 2007, 2009, and 2011, respectively. Of the 44 enrolled students, 36 (82%) completed the workshop, indicating that the four-session extracurricular format was feasible for most students. Students reported that the workshop was acceptable, stating that it helped them cope more skillfully with the stress and emotional challenges of medical school, and helped increase self-care behaviors, such as exercise, sleep, and engaging in social support. Students also reported a 32% decrease in perceived stress (P < .001; d = 1.38) and a 16% increase in mindfulness (P < .001; d = 0.92) following the workshop. Changes in stress and mindfulness were significantly correlated (r = −0.42; P = .01).
Together, these findings suggest that a brief, voluntary mind–body skills workshop specifically adapted for medical students is feasible, acceptable, and effective for reducing stress, increasing mindfulness, and enhancing student self-care.
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