TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of a contemplative end-of-life training program
T2 - Being with dying
AU - Rushton, Cynda Hylton
AU - Sellers, Deborah E.
AU - Heller, Karen S.
AU - Spring, Beverly
AU - Dossey, Barbara M.
AU - Halifax, Joan
PY - 2009/12
Y1 - 2009/12
N2 - Objective: Health care professionals report a lack of skills in the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of caring for dying people and high levels of moral distress, grief, and burnout. To address these concerns, the Being with Dying: Professional Training Program in Contemplative End-of-Life Care (BWD) was created. The premise of BWD, which is based on the development of mindfulness and receptive attention through contemplative practice, is that cultivating stability of mind and emotions enables clinicians to respond to others and themselves with compassion. This article describes the impact of BWD on the participants.Methods: Ninety-five BWD participants completed an anonymous online survey; 40 completed a confidential open-ended telephone interview.Results: Four main themesthe power of presence, cultivating balanced compassion, recognizing grief, and the importance of self-careemerged in the interviews and were supported in the survey data. The interviewees considered BWD's contemplative and reflective practices meaningful, useful, and valuable and reported that BWD provided skills, attitudes, behaviors, and tools to change how they worked with the dying and bereaved.Significance of results: The quality of presence has the potential to transform the care of dying people and the caregivers themselves. Cultivating this quality within themselves and others allows clinicians to explore alternatives to exclusively intellectual, procedural, and task-oriented approaches when caring for dying people. BWD provides a rare opportunity to engage in practices and methods that cultivate the stability of mind and emotions that may facilitate compassionate care of dying patients, families, and caregivers.
AB - Objective: Health care professionals report a lack of skills in the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of caring for dying people and high levels of moral distress, grief, and burnout. To address these concerns, the Being with Dying: Professional Training Program in Contemplative End-of-Life Care (BWD) was created. The premise of BWD, which is based on the development of mindfulness and receptive attention through contemplative practice, is that cultivating stability of mind and emotions enables clinicians to respond to others and themselves with compassion. This article describes the impact of BWD on the participants.Methods: Ninety-five BWD participants completed an anonymous online survey; 40 completed a confidential open-ended telephone interview.Results: Four main themesthe power of presence, cultivating balanced compassion, recognizing grief, and the importance of self-careemerged in the interviews and were supported in the survey data. The interviewees considered BWD's contemplative and reflective practices meaningful, useful, and valuable and reported that BWD provided skills, attitudes, behaviors, and tools to change how they worked with the dying and bereaved.Significance of results: The quality of presence has the potential to transform the care of dying people and the caregivers themselves. Cultivating this quality within themselves and others allows clinicians to explore alternatives to exclusively intellectual, procedural, and task-oriented approaches when caring for dying people. BWD provides a rare opportunity to engage in practices and methods that cultivate the stability of mind and emotions that may facilitate compassionate care of dying patients, families, and caregivers.
KW - Contemplative
KW - End of life
KW - Interdisciplinary
KW - Professional education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=74249116651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=74249116651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1478951509990411
DO - 10.1017/S1478951509990411
M3 - Article
C2 - 19939303
AN - SCOPUS:74249116651
SN - 1478-9515
VL - 7
SP - 405
EP - 414
JO - Palliative and Supportive Care
JF - Palliative and Supportive Care
IS - 4
ER -