Pam Stephenson PhD, RN
End-of-Life Spirituality & Spiritual Uncertainty Research
About Me
I am an Associate Professor at Kent State University in the College of Nursing. My clinical experience is as an oncology nurse with experience in inpatient, medical, and radiation oncology as a staff nurse, clinical nurse specialist, and nursing supervisor.
Spirituality Research
My research with spirituality focuses on patients who are dying and their families. I have developed a spiritual framework that reduces the overwhelming construct of spirituality into five common attributes that coalesce to form the essence of spirituality. The attributes were drawn from 40 original research articles studying end-of-life spirituality. The definitions and descriptions of spirituality utilized by the researchers were abstracted and coded. The five attributes that most commonly emerged were meaning, belief, connection, self-transcendence, and value. These attributes are utilized to frame spirituality for my research. I am currently testing two tools. The State of Spirituality scale (SOS) is a bedside assessment tool and strategy to ease spiritual conversations between patients, family members, and providers. The Spiritual Uncertainty-Providers survey (SU-P) measures spiritual uncertainty frequency and discomfort for end-of-life providers.
Spiritual Uncertainty Research
The uncertainties that people have about spirituality, or spiritual uncertainties, are emerging as significant precursors to spiritual discomfort and distress for patients and families. This has been an important development in my research because the identification of spiritual uncertainties might allow providers to target potential causes of spiritual distress. No prior research about spiritual uncertainty was found in the literature, therefore, I have been developing spiritual uncertainty as a new construct of palliative and end-of-life care. Spiritual uncertainty is defined as the questions, doubts, and worries people have about the spiritual attributes of meaning, beliefs, connections, self-transcendence, and value. I have interviewed patients, families and providers about spiritual uncertainty and find additional research to be warranted.
The Kent State College of Nursing End-of-Life Research Team
Our team conducts family-centered hospice and palliative research.
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Pam Stephenson
Associate Professor
Dr. Stephenson is developing spiritual uncertainty as a new construct for end-of-life care.
Denice Sheehan
Professor
Dr. Sheehan studies the strategies adolescents use to manage having a parent in hospice.
Associate Professor
Dr. Hansen studies the role of blogging with caregivers of people with a life-limiting illness.
Viktor Frankl
"The search for meaning is the primary motivational force of man."
Published Work on Spirituality
Spirituality at the End of Life
Stephenson, P. S. & Hebeshy. (in press). The delivery of end-of-life spiritual care to Muslim patients by non-Muslim providers. MedSurg Nursing.
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Stephenson, P. S., Sheehan, D., & Shahour, G. (2017). Support for using attributes to describe spirituality among families in hospice. Palliative and Supportive Care, doi: 10.1017/S1478951516000778
Stephenson, P. S. & Berry, D. M. (2015). Describing spirituality at the end of life. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 37, 1229-1247.
Stephenson, P., Draucker, C.B., & Martsolf, D. S. (2003). The experience of spirituality in the lives of hospice patients. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 5, 51-58.
Spiritual Uncertainty
Stephenson, P. S., Sheehan, D., Hansen, D., & Mayo, M. (2019). Spiritual uncertainty among hospice providers. "There were tensions." Journal of Hospice of Palliative Nursing, 21(1), 90-95. doi: 10:1097/NJH.0000000000000485.
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Stephenson, P. S., Sheehan, D., Hansen, D., and Mayo, M. M. (2018). Spiritual uncertainty among hospice providers: “There were Tensions.” Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing.
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Stephenson, P. S., Sheehan, D., Hansen, D., & Mayo, M. M. (2017). The spiritual nature of uncertainty among hospice patients. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 19(5).
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Stephenson, P.S., Sheehan, D., Hansen, D., & Mayo, M. (2015). Uncertainties experienced by family members when one parent is dying. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 21, 488-494.
Stephenson, P. S. (2014). Spiritual uncertainty: Exemplars of two hospice patients. Holistic Nursing Practice, 38(4), 233-237. doi: 10.1097/HNP.0000000000000037
Stephenson, P. S. & Berry, D. M. (2014). Spirituality and uncertainty at the end of life. Oncology Nursing Forum, 41(1), 33-39.
End-of-Life Research
Sheehan, D., Hansen, D., Stephenson, P.S., Mayo, M.M., Albataineh, R., & Anaba, E. (2019). Telling adolescents that a parent has died. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 21(2), 152-159. doi: 10.1097/NJH0000000000000506
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Hansen, D.M., Sheehan, D. & Stephenson, P. (2016) Family caregiver recruitment: Social media challenges, opportunities and lessons. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 23(2), 608-611.
Hansen, D.M., Sheehan, D., Stephenson, P. (2016). The caregivers' experience with an illness blog: A pilot study. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 18(5), 464-469.
Mayo, M.M., Sheehan, D.K., Hansen, D.M., Stephenson, P., Christ, G.H., Heim, K., Parish, S., Shahrour, G., & Draucker, C.B. (2016). An examination of interactions between health care providers and adolescents with a parent in hospice. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 18(4), p. 302-309. doi: 10.1097/NJH.0000000000000247
Hansen, D.M., Sheehan, D.K., Stephenson, P.S. & Mayo, M. (2015). Parental Relationships beyond the grave: Adolescents description of continued bonds. Palliative and Supportive Care, 14(4), 358-363. [FirstView Articles: doi:10.1017/S1478951515001078 published online 15 October 2016].
Stephenson, P. (2006). Before teaching begins: The importance of managing patient anxiety prior to providing education. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 10, 241-245.
Stephenson, P. (2004). Understanding denial. Oncology Nursing Forum, 31, 985-989.
Methods Papers
Draucker, C. B., Al-Khattab, H., Hines, D. D., Mazurczyk, J., Russell, A. C., Stephenson, P. S., & Draucker, S. (2014). Racial and ethnic diversity in grounded theory research. The Qualitative Report, Online journal retrieved at: http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR19/draucker34.pdf
Book Chapters
Sheehan, D., Stephenson, P., Mayo, . Snyder-Cowan, D., & Hansen, D. (2019). Supporting adolescents with a parent in hospice. In B. R. Ferrell & J. Paice (Eds.). Textbook o Palliative Nursing (5th ed., pp. 783-791). New York: Oxford University Press.
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Stephenson, P. & Grotannelli, N. (2016). Caring for a patient with schizophrenia at the End of Their Life. In Managing Conflict/Finding Meaning. Hospice Foundation of America.
Grotannelli, N. & Stephenson, P. S. (2015). Psychiatric/psychological symptoms and diagnoses. In Core Curriculum for Generalist Hospice and Palliative Nurses (4th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing.
Contact Me
Thank you for reviewing my website. Please get in touch to find out more.
330-672-3704