The Somers-McCabe Parish Nurse Survey ©
Sandra A. Somers, RN, MS and James McCabe, PhD
A great deal of time, effort and input went into creating this survey. We would like to thank David Hrabe, PhD, RN, Pauline Komnenich, PhD, RN, Arnold Schwartz, MBA, Joe Ryan, Pat Midkiff, RN, MSN, Rose Coulter, RN, ADN and Elizabeth Brunstein, MC for their expertise and editorial assistance in this process. We decided to copyright the instrument used in this study in the hope that the survey will be replicated in other parts of the country. Parish nursing is a new and growing specialty in nursing. The benefits of parish nursing are vast. The information gleaned from this survey has implications for parish nursing practice, program initiation, basic and continuing education and public health policy, especially in regards to seniors. Through replication of this survey we can gain a better understanding of current trends in parish nursing practice.
The Somers-McCabe Parish Nurse Survey © may be reproduced in whole or part. Please contact: nmn@centerdoar.org for a copy or you may download a copy onto your computer by clicking the link below.
The purpose of this research study is to obtain demographic data about parish nurses to be used in assisting faith communities to initiate or expand health ministry programs and to obtain parish nurses’ perceptions of seniors’ needs. It takes approximately 15 minutes to complete the survey.
You may download the survey by clicking the following link.
Somers- McCabe Parish Nurse Survey
Spring 2003 Survey Results of Parish Nurses in the Greater Phoenix Area
Using The Somers-McCabe Parish Nurse Survey ©
After approval from Arizona State University West’s Institutional Review Board, the survey was mailed with a postage-paid return envelope to 86 congregations in the greater Phoenix area that we believed had an active parish nurse ministry. We informed the parish nurses that it was a joint research study conducted by the Nurse & Health Ministries Network and Arizona State University West, College of Human Services, Department of Social Work and Arizona State University, College of Nursing. The purpose of the survey was to obtain demographic data about parish nurses in the greater Phoenix area and to obtain parish nurses’ perceptions of the needs and services available to seniors. It was then followed up with an email reminder to complete the survey. It was a confidential study, identified by number only. We had an outstanding 56% return with 38 usable surveys completed partially or totally! (Ten responded they did not think it was appropriate to answer the questionnaire due to their limited hours/week or they were in health ministry but not an RN). Following are the results.
Perceptions of Seniors’ Needs (People over 65)
On average, the parish nurses who responded to our survey estimated that they serve 37 people per week. The majority of those served are people over 65 (92%) and approximately half (47%) of these seniors live alone. Most of the parish nurses (32) estimate 50-100% of their time is devoted to serving seniors. Five parish nurses reported less than 50% of their time is devoted to serving seniors. Parish nurses describe spending the majority of their time with seniors in the function of personal health counselor followed in order by health educator, community resource liaison, integrator of faith and health, health advocate, volunteer coordinator and support group developer. They believe the most beneficial functions, in order of priority are: personal health counselor, integrator of faith and health, health advocate, equally ranked were health educator & community resource liaison, then support group developer and volunteer coordinator. The greatest barriers to serving seniors are identified as the seniors’ denial of healthcare problems or issues followed by time constraints for the parish nurse. Of the needs we listed, the greatest needs of seniors are identified as social support and prescription drug coverage followed by spiritual support and transportation. Prescription drug coverage and safety are identified as having the least services available and prescription drug coverage and transportation are identified as having the least accessible services.
The majority of parish nurses (95%) visit seniors in their homes with most of them (78%) spending 30-60 minutes during a visit. The seniors’ children followed by the faith community, then friends and neighbors are identified as the primary sources of social support for homebound seniors.
Faith Communities
Parish nurses are in faith communities of all sizes, from under 250 members to greater than 5000 members. The majority of parish nurses who responded to our survey (71%) are in a faith community between 500-5000 members. The majority (71%) are members of the faith community they serve. If they are not members, they attend services at the faith community they serve on an occasional to regular basis. Eight denominations of Christian churches are represented by this survey. The most frequently represented are: Lutheran (34%), Methodist (18%), Presbyterian (16%) and Catholic (13%). The personal religious denomination of the parish nurse is not always that of the faith community they serve. The parish nurses estimate the faith communities they serve to have approximately 55% of the congregants over 65. The average estimates of socioeconomic distribution of these faith communities are: 5% poor, 19% low income, 51% middle income and 25% upper income.
Parish Nurse Ministry and Demographics
Parish nurse is the title of 63% of the respondents. Health ministry and wellness ministry were other common titles for their programs. The majority (92%) are in the congregational model and 8% in the institutional model of parish nursing. The average number of hours parish nurses are scheduled to work is 17 hours/week, and most work an additional 8 hours of unscheduled, unpaid time. The majority of parish nurses who responded are in paid positions (74%). Of those who are paid, 66% are salaried. The pay range is from $8/hour to $26/hour with an average of $17/hour. The experience and assistance that most parish nurses bring to their congregations would certainly afford them a salary commensurate with the higher end of this pay range. But, their pay is determined by many factors including the existing staff salaries, the socioeconomic status of the faith community they serve and the inclusion of benefits to name a few. Slightly over half of those responding receive benefits. The average amount of time the parish nurses have been RNs is 33 years and the average amount of time they have been parish nurses is 2 years. Their experience covers all the specialty areas. The majority of those completing the survey attended the Basic Preparation Program sponsored by the Nurse & Health Ministries Network (82%) and all of them found the information useful in their work as parish nurses. The skills the parish nurses acknowledged as most necessary to do their jobs well are listed in order of the frequency they were identified: interpersonal skills (84%), spiritual maturity (55%), knowledge of community resources (50%), knowledge of parish nurse role and functions (42%), time management skills (29%), clinical expertise (26%) and knowledge of denominational doctrine (11%). The majority of the parish nurses (95%) described “being called” into ministry. A health cabinet or wellness committee was noted by 61% of the parish nurses. The parish nurse is the chair of the health cabinet 44% of the time. The majority of those with a health cabinet (77%) noted that the health cabinet was helpful to their ministry.
To download a copy of these results, please click here... Statistics Results
If you would like to download a summary of these results in presentation (PowerPoint) format, please click the following slide or link.
