Avtex: A Clash of Environmental Business and Defense Interests

Avtex: A Clash of Environmental, Business, and Defense Interests is based on the continuously unfolding conflict between the only certified U.S. supplier of carbonized rayon for the Department of Defense and NASA with state and federal water and air quality regulators. Avtex, a privately held and financially strapped corporation, is the biggest water and air polluter in Virginia and one of the worst nationwide. It is also a major employer in Front Royal, Virginia, a small community nestled in the Shenandoah Valley. Complicating the Avtex controversy are the $22.6 million federal bailout in November 1989 and recent charges by environmental regulators of ongoing water and air violations. Avtex primarily focuses on this continuing case with respect to government and business relationships deemed ethically necessary to protect the environment

Mapping the Literature of Allied Health: Healthcare Chaplaincy

OBJECTIVE: This study examined citation patterns and indexing coverage from 2008 to 2010 to determine (1) the core literature of health care chaplaincy and (2) the resources providing optimum coverage for the literature. METHODS: Citations from three source journals (2008-2010 inclusive) were collected and analyzed according to the protocol created for the Mapping the Literature of Allied Health Professions Project. An analysis of indexing coverage by five databases was conducted. A secondary analysis of self-citations by source journals was also conducted. RESULTS: The 3 source journals--Chaplaincy Today, the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, and the Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling--ranked as the top 3 journals in Zone 1 and provided the highest number of most frequently cited articles for health care chaplaincy. Additional journals that appeared in this highly productive zone covered the disciplines of medicine, psychology, nursing, and religion, which were also represented in the Zones 2 and 3 journals. None of the databases provided complete coverage for the core journals; however, MEDLINE provided the most comprehensive coverage for journals in Zones 1 and 2, followed by Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and ATLA. Self-citations for the source journals ranged from 9% to 16%. CONCLUSIONS: Health care chaplaincy draws from a diverse body of inter-professional literature. Libraries wishing to provide access to journal literature to support health care chaplaincy at their institutions will be best able to do this by subscribing to databases and journals that cover medical, psychological, nursing, and religion- or spirituality-focused disciplines

Calling Out MS Fatigue : Feasibility and Preliminary Effects of a Pilot Randomized Telephone-Delivered Exercise Intervention for Multiple Sclerosis Fatigue

This project was supported by a National Multiple Sclerosis Society Pilot grant to N.F. and A.K. (#PP-1612-26378) and a FRAP internal grant from Wayne State University to N.F. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge all the individuals with MS who participated in this study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

“Taking your place at the table”: an autoethnographic study of chaplains’ participation on an interdisciplinary research team

BACKGROUND: There are many potential benefits to chaplaincy in transforming into a “research-informed” profession. However little is known or has been documented about the roles of chaplains on research teams and as researchers or about the effects of research engagement on chaplains themselves. This report describes the experience and impact of three chaplains, as well as tensions and challenges that arose, on one particular interdisciplinary team researching a spiritual assessment model in palliative care. Transcripts of our research team meetings, which included the three active chaplain researchers, as well as reflections of all the members of the research team provide the data for this descriptive, qualitative, autoethnographic analysis. METHODS: This autoethnographic project evolved from the parent study, entitled “Spiritual Assessment Intervention Model (AIM) in Outpatient Palliative Care Patients with Advanced Cancer.” This project focused on the use of a well-developed model of spiritual care, the Spiritual Assessment and Intervention Model (Spiritual AIM). Transcripts of nine weekly team meetings for the parent study were reviewed. These parent study team meetings were attended by various disciplines and included open dialogue and intensive questions from non-chaplain team members to chaplains about their practices and Spiritual AIM. Individual notes (from reflexive memoing) and other reflections of team members were also reviewed for this report. The primary methodological framework for this paper, autoethnography, was not only used to describe the work of chaplains as researchers, but also to reflect on the process of researcher identity formation and offer personal insights regarding the challenges accompanying this process. RESULTS: Three major themes emerged from the autoethnographic analytic process: 1) chaplains’ unique contributions to the research team; 2) the interplay between the chaplains’ active research role and their work identities; and 3) tensions and challenges in being part of an interdisciplinary research team. CONCLUSIONS: Describing the contributions and challenges of one interdisciplinary research team that included chaplains may help inform chaplains about the experience of participating in research. As an autoethnographic study, this work is not meant to offer generalizable results about all chaplains’ experiences on research teams. Research teams that are interdisciplinary may mirror the richness and efficacy of clinical interdisciplinary teams. Further work is needed to better characterize both the promise and pitfalls of chaplains’ participation on research teams

Shared Experiences of CRNAs Who Were On Duty in New Orleans During Hurricane Katrina

The purpose of this focused ethnography was to describe the shared experiences of Certified Regis-tered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) who were on duty in New Orleans, Louisiana, during Hurricane Katrina as well as to elucidate the psychosocial impact the storm had on them. Ten CRNAs participated in 1 of 3 focus groups that were audio recorded. The audio record-ings were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative data analysis computer software (NVivo 8, QSR Inter-national, Melbourne, Australia). Six major themes emerged from the study: caught off guard; sense of duty; uncertainty/powerlessness/frustration; group identity and cohesiveness; anger; and life-changing event. The themes represented how the CRNAs appraised and coped with the stressful events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. The psycho-social impact of Hurricane Katrina on the CRNAs resulted mainly in short-term sleep disturbances and increased drinking. Only 2 CRNAs expressed long-term psychosocial effects from the storm. The results of this study should be used to guide policies regard-ing disaster activation of CRNAs, to educate CRNAs on preparing for disaster duty, and to provide a frame-work for future disaster studies regarding CRNAs