The process of co-designing a model of social prescribing: An Australian case study.

INTRODUCTION: Social needs such as housing, employment, food, income and social isolation are having a significant impact on individuals, families and communities. Individuals are increasingly presenting to health settings with social needs, which are ill-equipped to address nonmedical needs. Social prescribing is a systematic approach connecting the health, social and community sectors to better address social needs and improve health and wellbeing. Social prescribing interventions are being implemented world-wide. With variability in health and social care systems internationally, it is important that social prescribing interventions are co-designed with key stakeholders to ensure they can be implemented and sustained within local systems. METHODS: This Australian case study provides a detailed description of the process undertaken to co-design a social prescribing service model in a regional area. Four co-design workshops were undertaken, two with health and social care professionals and two with community members. The project followed an iterative process of resourcing, planning, recruiting, sensitising, facilitation, reflection and building for change across the workshops. RESULTS: Through this process, key stakeholders were able to successfully co-design a social prescribing model of care for the region. CONCLUSION: By demonstrating the process and materials used in our project, we aim to open the 'black box' of co-design for social prescribing and provide ideas and resources for others to adapt and utilise. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The project was designed and undertaken by a steering committee comprising university-based researchers (authors C. O. and S. B.), local government (author D. A.) and health, social and community services (authors B. G., M. W., J. O. and S. R.). Members of the steering committee participated in project design, participant recruitment, workshop facilitation, data analysis and interpretation.

Effects of Nurses' Screening of Spiritual Needs of Hospitalized Patients on Consultation and Perceived Nurses' Support and Patients' Spiritual Well-being.

There is an undeniable relationship between spirituality and health, and taking a spiritual history is a simple way to increase the focus on spiritual care. This is a pre/posttest intervention study. Questionnaires were administered before implementation of a spiritual assessment (pretest, n = 106), and afterward (posttest, n = 103). Despite a difficult implementation process, the number of consultation requests for the Department of Spiritual and Pastoral Care increased from 2 in the pretest period to 33 in the posttest period. After adjusting for patient characteristics, we found no differences between pretest and posttest measurements on the FACIT-Sp-12 total score or nurses' support regarding dealing with illness; we did, however, find a significant decrease on the subscale Faith of the FACIT-Sp-12 and on nurses' support regarding questions about purpose and meaning (97%-83%). In conclusion, taking a spiritual history may contribute to the spiritual care of patients in a general hospital in the shape of more frequent referrals to the spiritual caregiver (chaplain), but further research is needed to determine whether this also means that nurses provide less spiritual care.

Discerning lived spirituality: the reception of otherness.

A previous article focused on an analysis of prominent conceptualizations of spirituality in health care. The encompassing character of those approaches was viewed as problematic because too little attention is paid to the distinctiveness and particularities of spiritual experience. This article argues that the criteria gleaned from the prior analysis provide an impetus for a constructive discernment proposal of lived spirituality. The experience of otherness is provides a central clue to an understanding of spirituality particularly by two key terms, receptivity and transformation, as central characterizations of lived spirituality. These terms are investigated as they embrace operational potential for chaplaincy care. The article concludes with a reflection on chaplaincy care as it relates to spiritual practice.

Assessing the construction of spirituality: conceptualizing spirituality in health care settings.

Spirituality has become a popular term in chaplaincy and health care settings, but is defined in such a myriad of ways and in such broad terms that, as a term, it threatens to become unfit for clinical practice. Several prominent conceptualizations of spirituality are analyzed in an attempt to recover the distinctiveness of spirituality. An adequate understanding of spirituality for clinical use should run close to the lived spirituality of persons in their unique individuality, differing contexts and various persuasions. In the second place a distinct discourse on spirituality needs to be sensitive to characteristic experiences of that which is other.

The perceived impact of being a chaplain-researcher on professional practice.

As research has become part of chaplaincy, many chaplains become involved in research, often in the double-role of chaplain-researcher. Despite the increase of involvement in research, how conducting research benefits chaplains' professional care for clients has not been studied. The present study aimed to describe how chaplains perceive the impact of participation in the Dutch Case Studies Project (CSP) on their professional expertise and positioning in the institution. A survey was distributed among participants of the CSP (N = 50) and was completed by 48 participants. We found that participation in research contributed to the expertise of chaplains (e.g., its goal-orientation, the use of theory and method) and their positioning as they try to legitimate their profession. This study thus substantiates the presumption that chaplains' engaging in research as chaplain-researcher contributes to the perceived improvement of the quality of chaplaincy care and its legitimation.

Clinical evaluation of the efficacy of three nitrous oxide scavenging units during dental treatment.

There are environmental health concerns for dental health care providers chronically exposed to trace amounts of waste nitrous oxide (N2O). This study compared the effectiveness of three N2O scavenging systems, the Porter/Brown, the Accutron, and the Matrx, in actual time during use in a standardized mock dental treatment protocol that reflected clinical practice while minimizing the influence of confounding variables. At every occasion during the procedure, the Porter/Brown scavenger system left the operatory with significantly less N2O than any of the other scavengers tested. The Porter/Brown removed between 71% and 91% of the N2O compared to the control (no device).