Pall. care chaplains sought for focus groups

We are looking for chaplains to participate in one of four focus groups exploring providing spiritual care and religious care with people with dementia in long term care centers, including the roles of music and music therapy in that care. Long term care centers may include nursing homes, independent living, assisted living, memory care, and hospice.

Study participation will consist of a 90-minute focus group with 6-8 chaplains, scheduled at your convenience. The focus groups will discuss the spiritual care you provide in your facility, your spiritual care for persons with dementia, and any use of music in your spiritual care for persons with dementia.

To be included in the study you must:

• Work full-time as a spiritual care provider
• Work in a long-term care facility
• As part of your job, you provide some direct care for persons with dementia
• Board certified chaplains are welcome to participate but board certification is not a requirement to participate

We believe the results of this research will provide important information about current practices in spiritual care for nursing home residents with dementia, including the use of music in providing spiritual care.

If you are willing to participate in a focus group, please provide us with some basic information about yourself and your work here. We will use this information to select participants who are diverse in demographic characteristics and place of employment. If selected, we will email you to schedule your participation in one of the focus groups.

Please feel free to forward this information to any colleagues who you think would be interested in and qualify to participate in the study.

If you have any questions, please contact Andrew Andresco.