BACKGROUND There is a heightened interest in spiritual and religious interventions in clinical settings, an area marked by unease and lack of training by physicians. A potential resource for generalists is specialty consultation and referral services, although little is known about the prevalence and patterns of involvement of clergy or pastoral professionals in patient care. OBJECTIVES To id...

Use the word 'counselling' in the presence of Christian ministers and it is guaranteed to produce a whole variety of responses. Some will readily and warmly receive the word because they have taken a counselling course, read some counselling books or practised some counselling skills; others will want a more precise definition to clarify just what is meant, and yet others will react in horror a...

The persistence of transhumance systems requires continued access to key pastoral resources that together allow the seasonal movement of livestock herds over long distances. In dryland West Africa, these pastoral resources are vulnerable to competing land uses particularly agriculture. The mapping of pastoral resources is needed as a necessary but insufficient first step in local to national ef...

Background: We wondered whether “spiritual dryness” as a specific phase of “spiritual crisis” or insecurity is mostly a matter only of Catholic priests or can also be found in other pastoral professionals. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, we measured the prevalence of spiritual dryness in non-ordained Catholic pastoral workers, and identified relevant predictors. Results: In a sample of 3....

Background: Little is known about high school students’ perceptions of school-based pastoral support. This study aimed to explore this in the context of a high school–based emotional support project. Methods: Qualitative interviews explored perspectives on help seeking of students (N = 23) and staff (N = 27) in three UK high schools where a pastoral project was introduced. Data were analysed th...

OBJECTIVE Although spirituality is viewed as a vital aspect of the illness experience by most Americans, little is known about this domain of pediatric health care. The objective of this study was to profile pastoral care providers' perceptions of the spiritual care needs of hospitalized children and their parents, barriers to better pastoral care, and quality of spiritual care in children's ho...

To investigate the effects of irrigation on land cover changes and the risk of selected zoonotic pathogens, we carried out a study in irrigated, pastoral and riverine areas in the eastern Kenya. Activities implemented included secondary data analyses to determine land use and land cover (LULC) changes as well as human, livestock and wildlife population trends; entomological surveys to character...

Livestock grazing in drylands supports pastoral livelihoods but is facing multiple changes including shocks such as severe droughts. Herdsmen specifically cite drought events as a reason for the abandonment of their transhumance practices. The purpose of this study is to assess the relevance of drought as a driving force for losses of livelihood security leading to a specific systemic change – ...