Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spiritist Hospital Chaplaincy in Brazil: 5 Years of Documented Experience

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Religion and Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Spiritist Hospital Chaplaincy in Brazil has been growing significantly in recent years, with the implementation of new services through the work of Spiritist Medical Associations (SMAs) in different regions of the country. This article describes the importance of historical interconnections from the advent of spiritism in the world and its introduction in Brazil to the emergence of Spiritist Hospital Chaplaincy in our country and presents the documented experience over 5 years of spiritist chaplain care, in the period from 2012 to 2016, guided by the SMA of Piracicaba at the Unimed Hospital of Piracicaba (São Paulo). We documented 41,914 visits to 13,983 inpatients and an analysis of these records allowed us to reflect on the importance of this service and confirm its expansion and acceptance by different contemporary religious beliefs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aksakof, A. (1890/1994). Animismo e Espiritismo (Animism and spiritism). Rio de Janeiro: FEB.

  • Alonso, A. (2011). Associativismo avant la lettre–as sociedades pela abolição da escravidão no Brasil oitocentista. Sociologias (Avant la Lettre Associational Activity for the Abolition of Slavery in 19th century Brazil), 13(28).

  • Anefalos, A., e Silva, W. A. B., Pinto, R. M., Ferrari, R. D., de Fátima Boni, A., dos Santos, H. G., et al. (2016). Experience of the Spiritist Hospital Chaplaincy Service: A retrospective study. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(3), 909–917.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bezerra de Menezes, A. (1897). A Loucura sob novo Prisma: Estudo psicofisiológico (Madness under a New Prism: A physico-physiological study). Rio de Janeiro: The Spiritist Federation of Brazil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bragdon, E. (2005). Spiritist healing centers in Brazil. In Seminars in integrative medicine (Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 67–74). WB Saunders.

  • Büssing, A., Baumann, K., Hvidt, N. C., Koenig, H. G., Puchalski, C. M., et al. (2014). Spirituality and health. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine: eCAM; 2014:682817.

  • Cook, E. F. W. (1992). Frederic WH Myers. Parapsychology and its potential contribution to psychology (Doctoral dissertation, Ph.D. dissertation. University of Edinburgh).

  • Crookes, W. (1874). Researches in the phenomena of spiritualism (London, 1874). Crosland, Newton, Apparitions: A new theory (London, 1856).In Cross, W. R. (Ed.), The Burned-over District: The Social and Intellectual History of.

  • Delanne, G. (1898). Recherches sur la Médiumnité (Paris). J. Meyer (BPS).

  • Demográfico, IBGE Censo. (2010). Características gerais da população, religião e pessoas com deficiência (General characteristics of the population, religion, and people with disabilities). Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.

  • Fernandes, P. C. D. C. (2008). Origens do espiritismo no Brasil: diálogo, razão e resistência no início de uma experiência (1850–1914). Sociedade e Estado (Origins of Spiritism in Brazil: Dialogue, reason and resistance to the beginning of an experience (1850–1914). Society and the State, 23(3), 799–800.

  • Ferreira, J. M. H. (2004). Estudando o invisível: William Crookes e a nova força (Studying the Invisible: William Crokes and the new force). EDUC-Editora da PUC-SP.

  • Flammarion, C. (1979). O Desconhecido e os problemas psíquicos (The unknown and physical problems). Rio de Janeiro: FEB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jankowski, K. R., Handzo, G. F., & Flannelly, K. J. (2011). Testing the efficacy of chaplaincy care. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 17(3–4), 100–125.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Joint Commission. (2010). Advancing effective communication, cultural competence, and patient-and family-centered care: A roadmap for hospitals. Joint Commission.

  • Joint Commission International, & Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. (2002). Joint Commission International Accreditation Standards for Hospitals. Joint Commission Resources.

  • Koenig, H. G. (2012). Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications. ISRN Psychiatry, 2012.

  • Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook of religion and health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kottler, M. J. (1974). Alfred Russel Wallace, the origin of man, and spiritualism. Isis, 65(2), 145–192.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewgoy, B. (2001). Chico Xavier e a cultura brasileira (Chico Xavier and the culture of Brazil). Revista de Antropologia (Magazine of Anthropology), 44(1), 53–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewgoy, B. (2008). A transnacionalização do espiritismo kardecista brasileiro: uma discussão inicial. Religião & Sociedade (The transnationalization of Brazilian Kardecian Spiritism: An Initial Discussion. Religion and Society), 28(1), 84–104.

  • Lewgoy, B. (2011). A Religion in Transition: The Role of Kardecist Leaders in the Transnationalization of Brazilian Spiritism. Social Sciences and Religion, Porto Alegre, 13, 93–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lombroso, C. (1914). Ricerche sui fenomeni ipnotici e spiritici. Unione tipografico-editrice torinese (Research into hypnotic and spiritist phenomena. Turin Typographical Publications).

  • Lucchetti, A. L. G. (2013). Descrição da terapia complementar religiosa em centros espíritas da cidade de São Paulo com ênfase na abordagem sobre problemas de saúde mental (Description of complementary religious therapy in spiritist centres in the city of Sao Paulo emphasizing the approach to mental health problems), (Doctoral dissertation, Universidade de São Paulo).

  • Lucchetti, G., Aguiar, P. R. D., Braghetta, C. C., Vallada, C. P., Moreira-Almeida, A., & Vallada, H. (2012). Spiritist psychiatric hospitals in Brazil: Integration of conventional psychiatric treatment and spiritual complementary therapy. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 36(1), 124–135.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lucchetti, G., Daher, J. C., Jr., Iandoli, D., Jr., Gonçalves, J. P., & Lucchetti, A. L. (2013). Aspectos históricos e culturais da glândula pineal: comparação entre teorias fornecidas pelo Espiritismo na década de 1940 e a evidência científica atual (Historical and Cultural aspects of the pineal gland: Comparison between spiritist theories in the 1940s and current scientific evidence). Neuroendocrinology Letter, 34(8), 745–755.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucchetti, G., Lucchetti, A. L. G., Bassi, R. M., & Nobre, M. R. S. (2011). Complementary spiritist therapy: Systematic review of scientific evidence. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

  • Luz, M. T. (1996). A arte de curar versus a ciência das doenças: história social da homeopatia no Brasil (The art of the cure versus the science of disease: The social history of homeopathy in Brazil). Dynamis Editorial.

  • Maggie, Y. (2004). Espiritismo à brasileira (Spritualism in the Brazilian Way). Tempo Social (The Social Times), 16(1), 338–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreira-Almeida, A. (2013). Pesquisa em mediunidade e relação mente-cérebro: revisão das evidências (Research into mediunics and the relationship of the brain to the mind: A revision of the evidence). Rev. psiquiatr. clín (Clinical, Psychiatric Revision) (São Paulo), 40(6), 233–240.

  • Moreira-Almeida, A., de Almeida, A. A. S., & Neto, F. L. (2005). History of ‘Spiritist madness’ in Brazil. History of Psychiatry, 16(1), 5–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, F. W. H. (1904). Human personality and its survival of bodily death (Vol. 2). London: Longmans, Green.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piderman, K. M., Marek, D. V., Jenkins, S. M., Johnson, M. E., Buryska, J. F., Shanafelt, T. D., et al. (2010). Predicting patients’ expectations of hospital chaplains: A multisite survey. In Mayo Clinic proceedings (Vol. 85, No. 11, pp. 1002–1010). Elsevier.

  • Puchalski, C. M., & Larson, D. B. (1998). Developing curricula in spirituality and medicine. Academic Medicine, 73(9), 970–974.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Puchalski, C. M., Vitillo, R., Hull, S. K., & Reller, N. (2014). Improving the spiritual dimension of whole person care: Reaching national and international consensus. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 17(6), 642–656.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team. (2013). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, 2013. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Saad, M., & de Medeiros, R. (2016). Programs of religious/spiritual support in hospitals-five “Whies” and five “Hows”. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 11(1), 5.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Saad, M., Masiero, D., & Battistella, L. R. (2001). Espiritualidade baseada em evidências. Acta Fisiátrica (Spirituality Based on Evidence, Physiatric Acts), 8(3), 107–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silva, E. M. (1999). O Espiritualismo no Século XIX: reflexões teóricas e históricas sobre correntes culturais e religiosidade (Spiritualism in the nineteenth century: reflexions on the theory and history of currents in culture and religiosity). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences, The State University of Campinas).

  • Silva, C. A. D., Santos, L. M. R. A. U., Fávaro, G. S. A. U., Abreu-Zorzi, T. H. D., Bessa, J. C. R. A. U., Mussio, S. C. A. U., et al. (2016). A prática da psicografia: corpo e transmissão em relatos de experiência mediúnica (The practice of psychography: The body and transmission from accounts of mediunic experiences).

  • Soares, R. T. (2010). As associações médico-espíritas e a difusão de seu paradigma de ciência e espiritualidade (The Spiritist Medical Associations and the distribution of their scientific and spiritual paradigm). Dissertação de Mestrado (Ciência da Religião) (Master’s dissertation - The Science of Religion) Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. (The Federal University of Juiz de Fora).

  • Souza D, Deitos T. (1980). Terapia espírita em hospitais psiquiátricos (Spiritist Therapy in psychiatric hospitals). Revista da Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria, (Brazilian Psychiatry Magazine), 2(3):190–194.

  • Thuillier, P. (1977). Evolutionnisme et spiritisme: Le cas Wallace. La Recherche (Evolution and spiritism: The Wallace case), 80(8), 691–696.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter-Pfändler, U., & Morgenthaler, C. (2011). Patients’ satisfaction with health care chaplaincy and affecting factors: An exploratory study in the German part of Switzerland. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 17(3–4), 146–161.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Digestive Physiology of Piracicaba, Functional Diseases and Manometry of the Digestive System, Rua Bernardino de Campos, 1708, Piracicaba, SP, 13419-100, Brazil

    Alexandre Anefalos

  2. School of Dentistry of Piracicaba, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Wilkens Aurélio Buarque e Silva

  3. LCE - ESALQ, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Renan Mercuri Pinto

  4. Spiritist Medical Association (SMA) of Piracicaba, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Alexandre Anefalos, Renée Danckwardt Ferrari, Aparecida de Fátima Boni, Cleide Borges Duarte & Rodrigo Ribas dos Reis

Authors
  1. Alexandre Anefalos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wilkens Aurélio Buarque e Silva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Renan Mercuri Pinto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Renée Danckwardt Ferrari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Aparecida de Fátima Boni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Cleide Borges Duarte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Rodrigo Ribas dos Reis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandre Anefalos.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee (ERC) of the School of Dentistry of Piracicaba (in Portuguese, FOP-Unicamp) under the number CAAE 66052217.5.0000.5418. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

This work was submitted to the standardization of the Ethics and Research Committee of the School of Dentistry of Piracicaba (São Paulo state), which was approved under the number CAAE 66052217.5.0000.5418, concerning to the exception of the use of the written informed consent term for observational, analytical or descriptive retrospective studies, where the data are analyzed anonymously and the results are presented in aggregate form, not allowing the identification of the research participants, no risk is offered to the patient and there is no experimentation with drugs or invasive procedures.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Anefalos, A., e Silva, W.A.B., Pinto, R.M. et al. Spiritist Hospital Chaplaincy in Brazil: 5 Years of Documented Experience. J Relig Health 57, 1038–1051 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0527-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0527-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation