Digital technologies are increasingly part of healthcare: They are used to improve patient treatment, shorten the length of stay in hospital and ensure post-discharge care. Digital spiritual care is part of this development and responds to it.
At this conference, current developments in German-speaking countries were examined and knowledge and experiences from practitioners and academics were exchanged. The aim of this conference was to gain an overview of current developments and to explore and discuss their opportunities and challenges with reference to exemplary examples and innovative projects.
The focus was on current findings from pastoral theological research (Annette Haussmann, junior professor at the University of Heidelberg) as well as on current practical projects such as the “Ankerplatz”, under whose name a platform for digital spiritual care is currently being created (Achim Blackstein, Ev.-luth . Landeskirche Hannover) and experiences with digital spiritual care in Hamburg (Frauke Rörden, Hamburg Church District Association). The current status of digitalization among Swiss spiritual care providers was discussed with reference to a Switzerland-wide survey conducted in March of 2023 (Fabian Winiger, University of Zurich) as well as the SpiCaDoc protocol, which is being introduced in palliative care in Zurich.
International developments were covered with an insight into “eHeart”, a digital spiritual care platform under development in Denmark (Maiken Langhoff Kidholm, Laura Kvorning & Ricko Damberg Nissen, University of Southern Denmark) and a look at “Telechaplaincy” in the USA, where digitalization helps to make spiritual care encounters deeper and more sustainable (Jane Jeuland, Yale New Haven Hospital).
The conference was rounded off with a panel discussion on the prospects for spiritual care in the Swiss healthcare system with contributions from the speakers and Saara Folini (Swiss Professional Association of Spiritual Care in Health Care).
Programme
MORNING
8.30 Arrival
9.00 Simon Peng-Keller (Univ. Zürich):
Welcome and Introduction
9.15 Annette Haussmann (Univ. Heidelberg):
Digitalisierung in Seelsorge und
Spiritual Care: Aktuelle Entwicklungen
und Desiderate
10.15 Coffee break
10.30 Achim Blackstein (Ev.-luth. Landeskirche
Hannover): Online-Seelsorge in
Gesundheitskontexten – Von der
Begründung einer «Digital Soul Care»
11.30 Frauke Rörden (Kirchenkreisverband
Hamburg): Praxisbericht digitale
Krankenhausseelsorge Hamburg
12.00 Maiken Langhoff Kidholm, Laura Kvorning & Ricko Damberg Nissen (Research Unit of General Practice, Univ. of Southern Denmark): eHeart – A Digital Plattform
for Spiritual Care in Denmark [ENGLISH]
14.00 Workshops zu Praxisprojekten:
Carla Sorato Attinger (RKK Basel-Stadt):Digitale Spiritual Care für die Basler Spitäler (ausgefallen)
Digitalisierung und seelsorgliche Praxis
im schweizerischen Gesundheitswesen:
eine Bestandesaufnahme.
Dokumentation von spezialisierter
Spiritual Care mittels SpiCaDoc
– Erfahrungsbericht aus der Zürcher
Palliativseelsorge
USA): Deeper Connections: The Tele-
chaplaincy Experience [ENGLISH]
und Saara Folini (Berufsverband Seel-
sorge): Perspektiven für die Seelsorge
im Schweizer Gesundheitswesen
