Health Sciences

Palliative Care Unit

Staff Profile

Bruce Rumbold, PhD. Senior Lecturer Deputy Director of the Palliative Care Unit, La Trobe University Course Coordinator, Postgraduate Diploma in Health Promoting Palliative Care Course Coordinator, Undergraduate double degree - Bachelor of Health Sciences (Public Health)/Bachelor of Health Sciences Pastoral Care Course Co-ordinator, Graduate entry Bachelor of Pastoral Care Email: b.rumbold@latrobe.edu.au Phone: (03) 9285 5269 (International: +61 3 9285 5269) Fax: (03) 9285 5111 (International: +61 3 9285 5111) Office: 3.05 (City campus), HS1-117B (Bundoora campus)

MSc, PhD, BD(Hons), PhD, MA

Bruce Rumbold holds postgraduate qualifications in physics, pastoral care and health social science, and has published in all three fields. His longstanding interest in palliative care began with doctoral work in England in the mid-seventies, and has continued throughout palliative care's period of development in Australia . The health promoting model employed by the La Trobe University Palliative Care Unit, with its emphasis on social and spiritual care, is particularly congenial to his interests in pastoral care and spirituality.

Before taking up his present fulltime position at La Trobe University, Bruce was from 1986-2002 the foundation Professor of Pastoral Studies at Whitley College Theological School, developing and teaching ministry and pastoral care programs accredited by the Melbourne College of Divinity. In 1991 he was for a semester visiting professor at the European Baptist Theological Seminary, Rüschlikon , Switzerland . In 1995 he was Melbourne College of Divinity Lecturer.

In 1987 Bruce was appointed an honorary Fellow of the Association for Supervised Pastoral Education in Australia (ASPEA). In 2003 he was elected as a member of the International Academy for Practical Theology. He is currently Secretary of the International Council for Pastoral Care and Counselling, a body that connects nearly fifty national pastoral care associations worldwide. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to pastoral and palliative care, particularly as an educator, on Australia Day 2005.

Selected Publications:

• Rumbold, B. (2003). "Attending to spiritual care". Health Issues, 77, 14-17.
• Rumbold, B. (2003). "Caring for the spirit: Lessons from working with the dying". Medical Journal of Australia, 179(6), S11-S13.
• Rumbold, B. (ed) (2002) Spirituality and Palliative Care. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
• Rumbold, B. (2000) "Pastoral Care of the Dying and Bereaved" in A. Kellehear (ed) Death and Dying in Australia. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 284-297.
• Rumbold, B. (1998) "Implications of Mainstreaming Hospice into Palliative Care Services" in J. Parker and S. Aranda (eds) Palliative Care: Explorations and Challenges. Sydney: MacLennan &Petty, 24-34.

Research interests:

• Spirituality in health care
• Pastoral care practice in palliative care services;
  • training, position descriptions, actual practice of pastoral care workers
  • pastoral care workers' perception of their role with clients and in the interdisciplinary team
  • clients' and co-workers' perceptions of the pastoral care role and pastoral care workers' implementation of that role.
• Illness narratives in chronic and life-threatening illness.

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