Current Projects

Project 1: Coping with Cancer II
Project Leader: Tracy Balboni, MD, MPH (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute)

The Coping with Cancer study is a multi-institutional study of patients with advanced cancer designed to investigate how psychosocial factors, including spiritual care, influence patients' end of life (EoL) care and quality of life near death. Although spiritual care has been associated with better patient quality of life, there is a paucity of data examining the prospective associations of spiritual care on patient well-being just before death. Furthermore, the association of religious coping with more aggressive care at EoL prompts the question of whether medical care that recognizes the spiritual components of facing terminal illness may aid in preventing futile, aggressive care at the EoL by addressing spiritual needs and better integrating patients' R/S beliefs into discussions regarding EoL care.

Project 2: Chaplaincy Visitation Database
Project Leaders: Kathy Gallivan, PhD (Brigham and Women's Hospital) and Angelika Zollfrank, MDiv (Massachusetts General Hospital)

This project aims to create a joint chaplaincy database that includes all chaplains in local hospital spiritual care departments, which (a) tracks every chaplaincy visit in detail, (b) includes patient follow-up survey information about those visits, and (c) captures a variety of medical outcomes including length of stay, patient satisfaction, readmissions, cultural and spiritual diversity, and outpatient/ambulatory care. The project will test a variety of hypotheses that aim to move chaplaincy practice to be more closely evidence-based.