This 4-hour short course offered by Transforming Chaplaincy will provide a comprehensive introduction to case study research in spiritual care including detailed instructions on writing and publishing case studies, as well as a more advanced exploration of how case studies can be used for qualitative analysis and synthesis. Participants will read a published case study in-depth, explore different formats for writing case studies, learn about publishing opportunities and the submission process for the key journals in chaplaincy research, and workshop their own case study ideas. Issues of patient confidentiality, the ethics of writing case studies, and how chaplains can write about race and equity in case studies will also be addressed.

 

No prior experience with research in chaplaincy or any field is required to participate in this Transforming Chaplaincy Advanced Research Short Course. Case studies are an accessible and excellent way for all chaplains to begin to engage in research. However, this course will cover advanced topics and is appropriate for chaplains with experience in research who want to explore case studies methods in-depth.

 

*A certificate for 5-hours of research related continuing education will be distributed to all participants upon completion of the course, counting towards the 5-hours of required research education for BCCI Renewal. The 5 hours represent 1 hour reading the case study and preparing for the course and 4 hours in the course.

 

To register for the course, please contact Andrew Andresco, Transforming Chaplaincy Project Coordinator, at andrew_w_andresco@rush.edu.

Short Course Pricing

30 Seats Available

$119 – Regular Rate

$99 – Members of TC Research Networks

$89 – Past participants of RL 101 or 102, TC ‘Summer Camp’ or TC Leadership Certificate

$79 – CPE Students and Chaplain Fellows

*Last day to register is Friday, March 16th

 

Add on: (8 places available)

Cost above of course + additional:

$199 – Includes:

  • Full edit of one draft of your written case, no more than 5000 words and submitted within 4 weeks of the course, with track-changes and comments by Cate Beaulieu-Desjardins.
  • Plus: 1-hour consultation with Cate over Zoom after the edit for discussion and publishing strategy.

Short Course Leaders/Teachers

Christina Shu:


Rev. Christina Shu, M.Div, BCC is the Lead Interfaith Chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She holds a BA in Religious Studies from Stanford University and a Masters in Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. She is board-certified with the Association of Professional Chaplains and an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. Her focus is to provide interfaith spiritual care to patients and families from diverse religious communities and those who are not religious, are unaffiliated or are personally spiritual. Her specialties are palliative care patients and families experiencing grief and loss, spiritual distress, end-of life situations, and coping with long-term serious illness and hospitalization. She also enjoys teaching spiritual care topics for medical students, residents and fellows, and chaplain students in the Clinical Pastoral Education program. She is the author of, “I need my granddaughter to know who I am!” A case study of a 67-year-old African American man and his spiritual legacy,” published in the Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy, Vol. 29, Issue 3 (2023).

Cate Beaulieu-Desjardins:

Cate Michelle Desjardins, MDiv, MPH, BCC, is a Research Partner with Transforming Chaplaincy, Executive Director of Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship, and convener of the Pediatrics Spiritual Care Research Network. Her research interests include the role of religion in coping with caregiving for children with complex medical needs who are dependent on mechanical ventilation and ethical issues in this population. She completed the Transforming Chaplaincy Research Fellowship in 2019 and is pursuing a PhD at KU Leuven. She is the lead co-editor for the forthcoming book (Pickwick, 2024) Case Studies in Pediatric Chaplaincy.

 

Registration Information and Website

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, March 12, Midnight EST (1-week ahead)

Max Spaces: 30

 

Pre-Reading and Expectations

  • Christina Shu’s Case Study: “I need my granddaughter to know who I am!” A case study of a 67-year-old African American man and his spiritual legacy
  • Please come with 1-2 brief outlines of a case you would be interested in writing as a full case study and submitting for publication.
    • Example:
    • Note: Cases do not need to be “extraordinary”. Case studies that illustrate ordinary or typical spiritual caregiving in your context and from your perspective are vital to building the field. However, some “extraordinary” cases are also important and useful, for instance, case studies that explore how chaplains engage in intractable ethical issues – particularly those involving religious or spiritual perspectives, or case studies around difficult issues such as gun violence or non-accidental trauma in both pediatrics and adult or elder-care.
    • Case studies can involve larger organizational work (spirituality groups, larger-scale staff interventions) and individual work with patients or their families. Case studies can be of chaplains’ work with staff as well as patients/families.

 

To register for the course, please contact Andrew Andresco, Transforming Chaplaincy Project Coordinator, at andrew_w_andresco@rush.edu.