Faithful judgements: the role of religion in laypeople's ethical evaluations of new reproductive and genetic technologies
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of Geog, Politics and Sociology
Abstract
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Organisations
Publications
Scully J
(2017)
Empirical Bioethics - Theoretical and Practical Perspectives
Scully JL
(2017)
Experiences of faith group members using new reproductive and genetic technologies: A qualitative interview study.
in Human fertility (Cambridge, England)
| Description | This study aimed to explore the processes through which people who identify themselves as 'religious' make ethical evaluations of new reproductive and genetic technologies, focussing on Christian and Muslim faith groups. Among the key findings were: -- that many participants, from Christian and Muslim faith groups, noted that information on the official teaching of the religion on new reproductive and genetic technologies was hard to find. -- some faith groups have not yet crafted an official teaching on NRGTs. -- the most readily available forms of religious guidance were sometimes not viewed as authoritative, if faith leaders were felt to lack knowledge and/or the faith group's theological responses were regarded as inadequate. -- most interviewees felt that the healthcare system was generally unaware of faith issues and the onus was on patients to raise these issues. However, they also recognized the difficulty for healthcare professionals of raising sensitive issues. -- many interviewees felt that they had had no opportunity to think through their treatment choices from a faith perspective, and that this had caused them concern or distress. |
| Exploitation Route | Information could be used to shape relevant healthcare policy, practice and training, by clinicians and others. It will also prove useful to faith group leaders in terms of their engagement with their members facing these issues, as well as potentially informing faith group policy on NRGTs. Findings made publicly accessible will also be useful to faith group members themselves. |
| Sectors | Healthcare |
| URL | http://www.ncl.ac.uk/peals/research/project/3979 |
| Description | The impact of this work is continuing to emerge, and is being maximized and tracked in some further activities. In September 2013 we held a Dialogue and Dissemination Event at Durham University, to which we invited key figures from relevant healthcare policy and practice and from healthcare chaplaincy work, as well as some participants in the study itself; delegates at this event were informed about our first findings and had the opportunity to be involved in their interpretation and discuss their implications. In October 2013 the PI of the project was invited by the Hospital/Healthcare Chaplaincies Council to give the 10th Norman Autton Memorial lecture, entitled Faithful Judgements: Moral Pioneers Between Faith and Biomedicine. This was a prestigious event with wide exposure to those professionally involved in chaplaincy work and faith aspects of healthcare. [http://www.nhs-chaplaincy-spiritualcare.org.uk/Lectures/NormanAutton10thlectureJackieLeachScully2013.pdf]. We successfully bid for external support from our two universities' joint ESRC Impact Acceleration Award funding. This provided us with funding to prepare a draft research briefing targeted to policy makers and to chaplains, including draft recommendations, in collaboration with the Church of England's National Advisor on Medical Ethics and Health and Social Care policy. The work on this was delayed for 12 months due to a period of serious ill-health of the PI. The draft version was launched at a one-day policy and practice roundtable which was held in London in September 2016. The invited participants at the roundtable were given a presentation of our research findings and then worked with individual project team members to identify possible policy and practice responses. Their input was also valuable in fine-tuning and revising the draft recommendations. Our key findings (that the majority of our interview respondents encountered difficulty in finding out their faith group's ethical position on new reproductive and genetic technologies, felt they had not received appropriate guidance from their faith group leaders, and had been unable to raise their faith concerns in the clinical setting) prompted some thoughtful responses and ideas for changing practice, especially among healthcare practitioners. The involvement of two clinicians on our Advisory Board and our ongoing links with healthcare professionals and with chaplains continue to present opportunities to engage with a variety of groups to think more broadly about issues of faith in the context of new and emerging reproductive and genetic technologies. In collaboration with a leading clinician from a regional fertility centre, we designed and used a patient questionnaire in which visitors to the clinic are asked whether faith issues are a concern for them and if so, if there were any aspects of practice they would like to see modified. We have also been liaising with other bodies active in fertility and genetic medicine, including the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, to explore avenues through which our findings can inform practitioners' and patients' thinking, and have been invited by the HFEA to give input to one of its regular meetings of professional bodies. The HFEA has informed us that following the policy and practitioner roundtable in September 2016, which they attended, they are in the process of preparing some guidance notes to be placed on their website pages for healthcare practitioners and for patients. We have presented the work to healthcare researchers and practitioners, and to a meeting of social workers and counsellors who use discourse analysis, in order to generate debate about faith in the context of rapidly technologizing medical practice. As a consequence of one presentation by CI Professor Robert Song at the annual conference of the College of Healthcare Chaplains in September 2016, we were asked to meet with two representatives from the Catholic Bishops' Health and Social Care Advisory Group, to discuss contributing to their project on Religious Literacy in the NHS. Discussions are ongoing about taking this further. In terms of more general public impact, during and after the funding period we publicized the project and its findings in a variety of arenas. These included BioNews, the online newsletter of the Progress Educational Trust; Spice FM, a Tyneside community radio broadcast for black and minority ethnic communities; the online Muslim News; and People and Science, the newsletter of the British Science Association [http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/people-science-magazine/december-2013/people-faith-encountering-biomedicine]. An interview in the Church Times generated interest among faith group leaders and chaplains, ie those working with some of the people most directly affected by the interaction of faith and access to NRGTs. The project was the subject of an invited contribution to the Westminster Faith Debates blog [http://faithdebates.org.uk/blog/jackie-leach-scully-people-of-faith-encountering-biomedicine-bioethics/]. A further example of general public impact was an invitation to speak about the project at the Roundhay Science Festival in Leeds in March 2014, and an invitation to the PI to appear on BBC Radio Ulster's 'Sunday Sequence' programme in April 2016. One surprising finding of the project was the lack of prayer or worship resources that specifically address the situation of patients faced with making ethically and spiritually troubling decisions about the use of NRGTs. We have worked with one residential liturgy-writing group (Hymns for Healing) using creative practice to write a set of responses for use in Church of England services. We aim to pursue this in further work with local and national groups through creative writing and art that explores these profound experiences. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Faithful Judgements in Policy and Practice |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Presentation at Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Professional Organization Stakeholder Meeting |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | NORTH EAST ESRC SOCIETAL & ECONOMIC IMPACT ACCELERATION FUND |
| Amount | £7,760 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2017 |
| End | 10/2018 |
| Description | North East ESRC Impact Acceleration Award |
| Amount | £8,356 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2015 |
| End | 12/2016 |
| Description | 'Faithful Judgements' in bioethics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Short article, including call for participants, in BioNews 656 None notified so far |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.bionews.org.uk/page_144989.asp?hlight=faithful |
| Description | 10th Norman Autton Memorial Lecture to the Hospital/Healthcare Chaplaincies Council of the Church of England, entitled Faithful Judgements: Moral Pioneers Between Faith and Biomedicine |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Lecture stimulated discussion among healthcare chaplains attending, leading to invitations to speak locally, and invitation to collaborate with Church of England's Hospital/Healthcare Chaplaincies committee on providing guidance/training for chaplains Archbishop's Council's bioethics representative asked for further discussions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.nhs-chaplaincy-spiritualcare.org.uk/Lectures/NormanAutton10thlectureJackieLeachScully2013... |
| Description | A feature article on the background to and initial findings of the project published in People and Science. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Feature article was published in Spring 2014 issue of "People & Science" None yet notified |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/people-science-magazine/december-2013/people-faith-encounte... |
| Description | BSA SocRel |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation "Faithful Judgements: the role of religion in lay people's ethical judgements of new reproductive and genetic technologies" at the British Sociological Association's Sociology of Religion conference in Chester, March 2012. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Back page interview: regular feature in Church Times, the key national newspaper for the Church of England |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Interviewed by Terence Handley Mann for Church Times back page feature, appearing 16 June 2014. Several requests for further information from readers including chaplains. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | CELLS presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation 'Faithful Judgements: The Role of Religion in Lay People's Ethical Evaluations of New Reproductive and Genetic Technologies', by Robert Song, at Centre for Ethics, Law and the Life Sciences, Durham, October 2013 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Catholic Bishops' Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Meeting with two representatives of the Catholic Bishops' Conference working within the Healthcare Chaplaincy Faith and Belief Group (national organisation of the Church of England), who lead a project on Religious Literacy within healthcare; discussed input from the project into training materials to be developed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | DANASWAC conference, Durham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Paper entitled "Analysing facilitated dialogues: exploring ethical issues in new reproductive and genetic technologies", presented by Sarah Banks at Discourse and Narrative Approaches to Social Work and Counselling (DANASWAC) meeting, Durham University, 18-21 August 2014. 25 participants, academics from various European countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Ethics and Ethnography |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Paper 'Ethics and Ethnography: Lay Christian responses to new reproductive technologies' presented at conference 'Ecclesial Practices: Symposium on Ecclesiology and Ethnography', Durham University, September 2014 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Ethics of Care Stuttgart |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on 'Faithful Judgements' project at Ethics of Care conference, Stuttgart, April 2013. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Faithful Judgements Dialogue and Dissemination Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This one-day event was designed to bring together potential audiences of the research (academics, clinical practitioners, healthcare policy makers, faith group leaders, representatives of advocacy and self-help groups) as well as some of those who had participated in the research itself, to learn about and discuss the implications of the findings. Clinical practitioner invited us to collaborate on designing and using a questionnaire to assess patients' needs for faith-related support in their clinic. Several attending chaplains asked for further information and potential for training. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Faithful Judgements IAB |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation 'Faithful Judgments: the role of religion in lay bioethical evaluations of new reproductive and genetic technologies' by Jackie Leach Scully at the International Association of Bioethics' World Congress in Mexico City, June 2014. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Invited blog entry on Westminster Faith Debates blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Following the appearance of an interview in the Church Times, the PI was invited to contribute a blog entry in the ongoing Westminster Faith Debates blog. Blog entry was noted on Twitter and retweeted by some key figures in the faith and/or healthcare world |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://faithdebates.org.uk/blog/jackie-leach-scully-people-of-faith-encountering-biomedicine-bioethi... |
| Description | Policy and Practitioner Roundtable |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination event/roundtable held for invited audience of healthcare and faith group policy makers and practitioners, in London, 13 September 2016. The draft research briefing "Supporting people of faith in their decisions about reproductive and genetic technologies" was launched here, with invited comments from participants to enable us to revise and produce a final version with recommendations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Roundhay Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture given as part of a science panel at the Roundhay Science Festival organised by Churches Together in Roundhay. Positive feedback from audience members leading to the decision of the organisers to repeat the event next year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Sheffield seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Presentation "Faithful Judgements: the role of religion in lay people's ethical judgements of new reproductive and genetic technologies" to internal seminar, University of Sheffield, March 2013. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | SocRel Durham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation 'Reproduction Matters for Religious Bodies: Findings from a Study of Lay People's Ethical Evaluations of New Reproductive and Genetic Technologies', by Robert Song and Jackie Haq, BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Annual Conference, Durham, April 2013. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Wisdom for Chaplains !! |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Paper "Wisdom for Chaplains" (dedicated entirely to Faithful Judgements project) presented at the "Faithful and Fair: Changing Chaplaincy in the NHS", College of Healthcare Chaplains annual conference, 5-6 September 2016. Around 100 UK healthcare chaplains present, including Experience of Care lead for NHS England |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |