Search results for ""Author Harold G Koenig""

In a timely book with a powerful and persuasive message, Dr. Harold G. Koenig addresses federal, state, and local government policy leaders, urging them to more fully integrate religious organizations into the formal disaster response system, and he then provides recommendations on how this can effectively be done. Koenig also advocates faith communities and organizations to learn more about the role they can play in responding to disasters and terrorism. The chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina made extraordinarily clear the gaps in the United States' disaster policies. At the same time, the contributions of organized faith communities were highlights amidst the bungled federal, state, and local responses. One example is the New York Times, September 9, 2005, headline: "A New Meaning for 'Organized Religion': It Helps the Needy Quickly." But as faith-based organizations look for ways to help, there are few, if any, guidelines for them. This book provides information on the psychological, social, and spiritual responses to trauma. It addresses how the emergency response system works, and the role that religious communities can play in disaster response and recovery in terms of providing emotional and spiritual care for victims. It advocates integrating mental health into emergency response systems directed at those affected by hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and terrorism. "The aim is to help victims of disaster to better cope with the stresses they face, as well as help direct care workers (firefighters, police, health care providers, etc.) to deal better emotionally with the trauma to which they are exposed so they can remain effective and functional on the job," explains Dr. Koenig, whose research on the healing power of faith has been published worldwide. Increasing the resiliency of our communities in the face of disaster is crucial. Religious communities have tremendous potential to contribute to this. Here are guidelines on how to do that more effectively, alongside data on how to facilitate the integration of these contributions with the formal disaster-response system.

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In Spirituality and Health Research: Methods, Measurement, Statistics, and Resources, Dr. Harold G. Koenig leads a comprehensive overview of this complex subject. Dr. Koenig is one of the world’s leading authorities on the relationship between spirituality and health, and a leading researcher on the topic. As such, he is distinctively qualified to author such a book. This unique source of information on how to conduct research on religion, spirituality, and health includes practical information that goes well beyond what is typically taught in most undergraduate, graduate, or even post-doctoral level courses. This volume reviews what research has been done, discusses the strengths and limitations of that research, provides a research agenda for the future that describes the most important studies that need to be done to advance the field, and describes how to actually conduct that research (design, statistical analysis, and publication of results). It also covers practical matters such as how to write fundable grants to support the research, where to find sources of funding support for research in this area, and what can be done even if the researcher has little or no funding support. The information gathered together here, which has been reviewed for accuracy and comprehensiveness by research design and statistical experts, has been acquired during a span of over twenty-five years that Dr. Koenig spent conducting research, reviewing others’ research, reviewing research grants, and interacting with mainstream biomedical researchers both within and outside the field of spirituality and health. The material is presented in an easy to read and readily accessible form that will benefit researchers at almost any level of training and experience.

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Abuse, although often not detected or reported, existed in every facility we surveyed. It is a serious problem.Old, weak, and often cognitively impaired, nursing home patients can be easy targets for physical, psychological, material, and financial mistreatment at the hands of those entrusted with their care, safety, and well-being. Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes: There Is No Safe Place examines the dark side of nursing homes, where not every employee has the commitment of Mother Theresa. This groundbreaking book applies criminological theory to help develop practical methods of controlling abuse and presents the results of the first and only nationwide study on the theft of patients’ belongings, a form of abuse too often ignored by the nursing home industry. Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes surveys employees, administrators, and family members of patients in 47 nursing homes throughout the United States. Their responses provide invaluable insights on a wide range of topics, including the social and psychological factors that cause different types of abuse, characteristics of nursing home patients and employees, the bureaucracy of nursing homes, victimization rates, workforce issues of nursing home aides, and federal regulations for nursing homes. The information gained from the surveys forms the basis for detailed recommendations for creating a safer environment and reducing all forms of abuse, including theft-prevention training programs, background checks and improved screening of potential employees, education and advocacy for current staff, and the reform of federal regulations.Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes examines: types of physical abuse (restraints, sexual abuse, neglect) the who, what, and why of nursing home theft types of financial abuse (trust accounts, bank accounts, improper charges for services and drugs, identity theft) types of psychological abuse (abandonment, segregation, childlike treatment, verbal abuse) effects of psychological abuse (depression, learned helplessness, psychiatric disorders) reasons for abuse by employees (staff turnover, job burnout, job dissatisfaction, caregiver stress) One of the few books to deal with abuse of the elderly outside a domestic setting, Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes: There Is No Safe Place interprets and analyzes abuse to provide new ways of thinking about this growing problem and new methods of preventing it from growing any more widespread.

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With today's cumbersome insurance procedures, government regulations, endless paperwork, and concerns about malpractice rates, many health care professionals are asking: "Why am I doing this? Am I making a difference to my patients? Is there a better way—and if so, what is it?" In this book, Carson and Koenig examine the state of the health care system with the goal of providing healthcare professionals and caregivers the inspiration and practical tools to reclaim their sense of purpose. The book begins with an evaluation of the current system from the perspective of the spiritual vision that initially motivated and nourished many caregivers. The authors then pose a vision of a health care system that supports and nurtures the spirituality of patients and their families, of which some elements already exist. An overview is provided on the preparation necessary for health care professionals to offer spiritual care when there are major implications—for people with chronic illnesses, psychiatric issues, devastating injuries, and those preparing for surgery, facing death, and those living with chronic pain. Also explored are ways that health professionals and caregivers can maintain their own spiritual health even as they work to bring about healing, comfort, and solace to others. Woven throughout the book are the personal narratives of physicians, nurses, chaplains, health care educators, community resource workers, administrators, therapists, and psychologists—all from a wide range of religious traditions. Their examples inspire and assist professionals in renewing the spiritual focus of health care.

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Get a unique insight into health, bereavement, and healing! Bereavement Counseling: Pastoral Care for Complicated Grieving is a practical guide to the assessment and treatment of complicated grief responses, using a pastoral approach that combines clinical and spiritual care. The book addresses current theory, observations, and experience, and examines changing approaches and developing standards of practice. The author, an ordained minister with an extensive background in pastoral counseling, integrates spirituality into the grieving process by focusing on the partnership between spirituality and healing, the resources of spiritual practices, and the functions of counseling and spiritual/pastoral psychotherapy. By providing usable treatment strategies, sharing standard interventions, and promoting technical skill for caregivers, Bereavement Counseling: Pastoral Care for Complicated Grieving places sustained emphasis on giving voice to grief and recovery. The author draws from more than 20 years’ experience in ministry, teaching, supervision, consultation, and therapy to present stories, vignettes, and poetry that give depth and life to the grieving process. These vignettes provide a unique insight into health, bereavement, and healing and create a living context for maintaining a person-centered focus that promotes meaning and leads to positive outcomes. The book provides templates as assessment and treatment planning aids and includes an extensive bibliography of up-to-date journal articles that reflect the latest research in the field. Topics addressed in Bereavement Counseling: Pastoral Care for Complicated Grieving include: universal grief processes and responses dysfunctional grieving therapies and treatment priorities reorganization and recovery how perceptions, thoughts, and belief influence care and much more! Bereavement Counseling: Pastoral Care for Complicated Grieving is a practical resource for clergy, pastoral care specialists, and anyone needing to help others bear with the pain of grief, process loss, gain new insight and meaning, and experience a renewed sense of healing and connection.

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Examine a compelling account of a professional caregiver’s inspirational struggle with a mind/body illness and the renewed sense of compassion his recovery provides.This uplifting narrative is the story of a caregiving professional stricken by panic attacks, a wounded healer desperate to be healed. When the Caregiver Becomes the Patient is the candid and compassionate first-hand account of Daniel Langford’s struggle with the anxiety disorder that signals a physical, cognitive, and emotional crisis that paralyzes him, despite his extensive background as a health care professional, social worker, and pastoral minister. His journey from the disorder’s horrifying onset to the understanding and acceptance of its roots, and finally, to an insight that evokes a renewed appreciation for the human spirit is an inspirational guide to healing and recovery.The anecdotal form of When the Caregiver Becomes the Patient lends itself to a personal retelling of Langford’s struggle, detailing his sessions with family physician Dr. David Betat, and colleague and co-author Dr. Emil Authelet as they explore the biopsychosocial and spiritual dimension of Langford’s attacks. Their informal dialogues serve as a model of how a lateral relationship between colleagues can create an environment for healing and recovery that can be passed on to others. The book also critiques and reviews existing literature on panic attacks and anxiety disorders related to the author’s search for understanding.When the Caregiver Becomes the Patient examines: panic attacks--cause, treatment, and recovery a critique of existing literature on panic attacks clinical and spiritual perspectives on anxiety disorders critical elements of the healing process effects on the caregiver’s relationship with his/her client a fresh model for the caregiver/patient relationshipAn essential resource for caregivers, counselors and therapists, educators, physicians, and health care and religious professionals, as well as those searching for an understanding of anxiety disorders, When the Caregiver Becomes the Patient reassures those who receive care that the care giver struggles with life as well. That understanding of the mutuality of pain and recovery creates a connection that helps ease the isolation that often accompanies suffering.

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