Clergy need help to comfort the dying; Professor's study finds many consider themselves ill-prepared.Byline: GARETH HUGHES THE majority of clergy believe they need more training in how to care for the dying, a new study claims. A survey headed by a North Wales North Wales (known in some archaic texts as Northgalis) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England. professor who specialises in palliative care palliative care (paˑ·lē·ā·tiv kerˑ), n an approach to health care that is concerned primarily with attending to physical and emotional comfort rather showed that many clergy considered themselves poorly prepared in pastoral care of the dying and the comforting of bereaved relatives. The study, believed to be the first in the country, was carried out in the Sheffield Diocese by a team headed by Professor Mari Lloyd-Williams, who is honorary consultant in palliative palliative /pal·li·a·tive/ (pal´e-a?tiv) affording relief; also, a drug that so acts. pal·li·a·tive adj. Relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease or disorder without effecting a cure. medicine at the University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool is a university in the city of Liverpool, England. History The University was established in 1881 as University College Liverpool, admitting its first students in 1882. . Prof Lloyd-Williams, who is from Waen, near St Asaph St Asaph (Welsh: Llanelwy) is a town in North Wales on the River Elwy. It has a population of 3,491 (Census 2001). The town of St Asaph is surrounded by countryside and views of the Vale of Clwyd. , is on the board of St Kentigern Hospice, St Asaph. The survey was done in conjunction with the Rev Dr Mark Cobb, senior chaplain and clinical director for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trusts, but Prof Lloyd-Williams said she had no reason to believe that the situation is any different in areas such as North Wales. Clergy of all Christian denominations were sent questionnaires to assess what skills and knowledge they felt they had, and while most believed thay had adequate liturgical skills, 13% said they had little or no skill in pastoral care of the dying or bereaved. More than 70% felt they needed more training in that aspect of their work. Whilst the level of training in pastoral care of the dying is similar in the main denominations, the levels of training in helping the bereaved was much higher among Anglicans than the Roman Catholics and Methodists. Training colleges were consulted and fewer than half said there were opportunities to visit a hospice. ``The public expect the clergy to be able to provide appropriate support, and the report recommends that the provision of training for clergy in this area is addressed and that it should be part of the core curriculum within clergy training colleges, '' said Prof Lloyd-Williams. However, the Rev Chancellor David H Rees, vicar of Meliden, near Prestatyn, said: ``Training colleges do include pastoral care of the dying and bereaved, and I have never felt the need to call on anyone else for help. We train clergy within the diocese and I have not heard of anyone having problems. '' |
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