When humans need humans: The lack of use of

computer-based ICT in distance pastoral care

Stella Mills *

Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology, Staffordshire University,

Beaconside, Stafford ST18 0DF, UK

Received 8 April 2005; received in revised form 20 January 2006; accepted 22 January 2006

Available online 5 April 2006

Abstract

Computer-based information and communication technologies (ICT) have become a part of many

people’s working lives. Such technology is used in the form of e-mails and video-conferencing

across many sectors of society and these are sometimes claimed to have replaced the need for face-

to-face meetings. However, certain areas of work still seem to need face-to-face meetings; this paper

focuses on one such area of work, that of Christian pastoral care. The article discusses the needs of

clients and carers involved in crisis care within a Christian ethos and assesses why ICT tools seem to

be mainly superfluous in situations where crisis caring has to take place at a distance. Caplan’s model

of crisis is used to indicate typical characteristics of people in crisis. Evidence from the Foot and

Mouth epidemic of 2001 in the UK is used to investigate the usage of ICT in a real situation where

distance pastoral care was essential. The findings show that the telephone was by far the best ICT

tool although e-mail and the Internet were used in more formal business situations

q 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: ICT; Voice technology; Asynchronous technology; Synchronous technology; Pastoral care; Caplan’s

crisis model

1. Introduction

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have many uses and include a

wide range of technologies including computer based software and hardware as well

as the telephone and conventional letters. Although many people use ICT both at

Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567

www.elsevier.com/locate/intcom

0953-5438/$ - see front matter q 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.intcom.2006.01.006

* Tel.: C44 1785 353334.

E-mail address: s.f.mills@staffs.ac.uk.

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567 557

work and in the home, the use of computer systems is generally for tasks, which are

achieved in stable surroundings. For example, e-mails may be used to send messages

to colleagues and friends which messages, some 20 years ago, would almost certainly

have been conveyed by telephone or perhaps a short memorandum. However, in

certain circumstances, it becomes questionable as to whether ICTs can help the user

achieve goals as efficiently as one would wish; for example, in national disasters

such as hurricane damage, the use of ICT to support victims individually seems

limited although such technologies can be a tremendous help more generally through,

for example, the use of compact discs and software for teaching basic aiding skills

(http://www.nzdl.org).

In any form of crisis, there are people who need personal support and help and this

may be given professionally through counselling or the help may be given more

informally. In this latter category is that of Christian pastoral care which may be

given by an ordained Christian minister or by a trained lay pastoral worker. In both

professional counselling and pastoral care, the work with the client is similar but there

is a specific difference: in the case of counselling, the client goes to the rooms of the

counsellor much as someone might visit a dentist or solicitor so that the relationship

is entirely within the professional working environment (Taylor, 1989). Here, the

client makes the effort and drives the (professional) relationship. In pastoral care, the

work is still within a professional relationship but the carer goes to the client, usually

in their own home and often uninvited; thus, Christian pastoral care builds on the

traditional place of the Christian church (i.e. the gathering of people to worship God

through Jesus Christ) in the community and the caring of the church for a particular

community by going to the community’s members and offering help and support.

Another significant difference between counselling and pastoral care is that of power

in that the relationship in counselling is often terminated by the counsellor (Campbell,

1991), while in pastoral care the relationship should be more empathetic and warm

while minimising the carer’s own vulnerability (Murgatroyd and Woolfe, 1989). It is

this latter aspect of caring in a crisis, that of Christian pastoral care in a crisis, which

is the focus of this article.

In rural communities, the church has been a place of focus for the community for many

centuries and still today is known to be seen as such even by those members of the rural

community who do not attend worship. When a crisis hits the farming community

nationwide, then, the local church may be expected to respond with pastoral care for the

victims of the crisis. Such a crisis happened in the UK in 2001 when foot and mouth

disease (FMD), or Picornaviridae, genus Aphthovirus, struck throughout the UK but

particularly in England and Wales.

This article uses the literature to explore the ways in which ICT helped Christian

pastoral carers to do their work of visiting and identifying with the farmers who became

victims of FMD. After briefly outlining the method used to gather the data, the plight of the

farmers and associated work of the Christian pastoral carers are described through a case

study approach in which the use of ICT is identified. After some discussion of the findings

from the data, the paper concludes with some thoughts for the possible future use of ICT in

pastoral care.

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567558

2. Method

This article takes a case study approach in that it evaluates a situation (Yin, 2003); here

data gathered from the various official reports published in the aftermath of the FMD crisis

have been used in order to assess the use of ICT for pastoral care during the crisis. The data

give a concise picture of the trends of usage of ICT by those who were involved as farmers

and also pastoral carers. In addition to official reports, other literature has been used to

support the points made in these reports and to amplify the sometimes rather stark

references in official reports to ICT usage.

The usual constraints of such an approach pertain; it is accepted that generalisation of

conclusions drawn from such a study may be severely limited (Silverman, 2000) and

should only be made with extreme caution, if at all (De Vaus, 2001), although some

researchers may disagree that such caution is necessary (Silverman, 2000). In addition, the

bias of the researcher’s own lack of objectivity in selection and evaluation is recognised

(Yin, 2003) but given that this work does not gather primary data from the field such

personal bias of the researcher may be somewhat reduced (Silverman, 2000). The use of

secondary data, however, is also fraught with problems of authenticity and, in this case,

replication, but the use of official reports is seen as a small attempt to rectify these

problems since these reports have been approved by the various publishing bodies

(Bryman and Bell, 2003).

3. The foot and mouth disease crisis

In the UK in 2001, there occurred an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) which

is caused by at least one of seven variants of a virus which breeds world-wide. The disease

is highly contagious and causes fever, followed by blistering on the feet and in the mouth

of all cloven hoofed animals (Soffe, 1995). FMD can be spread up to 50 miles by the wind,

wildlife and people (Spedding, 1983) as well as being carried in hay and meat which has

not been sterilised (Soffe, 1995). In the UK, FMD is a notifiable disease and is dealt with

by slaughtering all infected animals (Soffe, 1995).

Farming in the UK has been a traditional industry with many livestock farms being

small in size and run by families over several generations. For the last few decades, these

farms have depended on subsidies from the Government for existence and the farmers

have watched market prices rise while the return to themselves has stagnated (Mycock,

2005). For example, the price of milk has remained the same for the farmer since 1990

while costs of feed and other expenses have risen with inflation (Gatward, 2005). Thus, the

farmer has not the inclination nor the money to spend on replacing office computer

equipment with the result that many of the small family farms have outdated computer

systems with only basic facilities such as e-mail and office system suites. In addition, the

sons of the family who would traditionally have taken over the farm as the next generation,

are leaving farming for more lucrative work; this has resulted in a number of farms now

being run in a part-time capacity (Kennard, 2004), often by the older generation. Indeed,

Rickard has estimated that 60% of these ‘hobby farms’ produce little actual product in

financial terms (Mycock, 2005).

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567 559

4. The use of ICT during the FMD epidemic

The use of ICT during the FMD epidemic can be roughly classified into office type

applications such as e-mail and those which were helpful in attempting to alleviate stress

through pastoral care such as the telephone. These uses will now be described in more

detail before discussion based upon a crisis model.

The FMD epidemic gave the churches a higher than usual profile within the practice of

pastoral care as farmers witnessed their livelihoods being destroyed and they and their

families became isolated by non-movement of animals and lack of social interaction.

Farmers had been marginalised and misunderstood long before the FMD outbreak

(Cumbria, 2002) but FMD brought the isolation to a head. Farmers in Devon, for example,

were stressed through fear of their livestock catching FMD as well as being isolated, which

increased their stress. Many farmers across the country sent their children to relatives so

that schooling would not suffer while others kept their families from participating in social

events (Devon, 2001; Cumbria, 2002). Social events and church worship were disrupted

across the country with wedding celebrations being postponed or severely curtailed and

some organists being unable to leave parishes to play in neighbouring ones. The whole

village community was affected emotionally (Cumbria, 2002) as much as the farmers

themselves in some cases. The isolation lasted for 5 months as visitors to the countryside

were strongly discouraged or not allowed.

Stress was increased by disorganised information being given, although local radio did

its best to keep farming communities involved. In some cases, rotting corpses of animals

were left on farms for up to 3 weeks while funeral pyres burned for days polluting the air

and potentially polluting land and water (Devon, 2001). Anger and frustration flourished

(Cumbria, 2002) and the crisis caused some farmers to think of suicide, particularly when

debts mounted with little expectation of being able to improve the financial situation

(Warner, 2003; Cumbria, 2002) and the police were involved in seizing firearms (Devon,

2001). Many farmers were reduced to tears as debts mounted with auctioneers becoming

informal counsellors (Cumbria, 2002) as well as friends and family. Some were so stressed

as to be unable to respond to telephone calls from clergy offering support (Burton, 2003).

Ancillary workers in general were affected as veterinary surgeons and slaughtermen

became fearful of approaching farms, as well as trade from tourism suffering enormously,

especially on farms which had diversified (Cumbria, 2002).

In these situations, how could the churches begin to meet the pastoral needs of their

members? One parish priest, not alone, related the frustration of wanting to be alongside

the parishioners but FMD prevented that and so the priest spent hours on the telephone

especially with those who could not come to church (Cumbria, 2002).

The rural Diocese of Worcester issued guidelines to clergy which included not visiting

farms except in an emergency but making positive contact by telephone ‘to assure farmers

of understanding, support and prayers in the community’ (Worcester, 2001). In addition, it

was recommended that a card, signed by the congregation, be posted expressing personal

and prayer support as well as tolling the bell at noon on each Sunday as an invitation to the

parish for prayer (Worcester, 2001).

Hereford Diocese, also mainly rural, supported the farming communities by prayer with

the Diocesan Chaplain for agriculture and rural life facilitating support through links with

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567560

the ARC-Addington Fund (a fund set-up by the UK government and supported with

voluntary donations, many of them coming from rural churches, to help farmers) and stress

support networks. Conferences were held after the FMD crisis had passed for debriefing

rural ministers (Hereford, 2001).

The Methodist church in Devon appointed a local farmer as a part-time rural officer and

he was able to support over 80 farming families; in addition, many farmers spent hours on

the telephone supporting each other (Devon, 2001). This support was much appreciated as

‘the one thing that makes any sense and has any value’ (Cumbria, 2002, p. 4) in the

epidemic. Indeed, the Methodist Circuit of Dove Valley on the Staffordshire and

Derbyshire border used its agricultural chaplain to support farmers not just in the circuit

but much wider afield such as in parts of Wales (Warner, 2003). The work of these (often

lay) rural chaplains was paramount in saving lives from suicide through offering support of

both a financial and spiritual nature. Some of this work was done face-to-face, although

much of the pastoral care was given by telephone (Warner, 2003). There were also a

number of other occasions when the telephone was used to make contact with seriously

stressed farmers (Warner, 2003) and it was also used to maintain that contact.

Other ICT technologies were used such as e-mail but usually for more formal

communications such as discussions about form-filling for making claims to the ARC-

Addington Fund and other financial sources. Indeed, e-mail was particularly useful for

form checking as farmers could send partially completed forms by e-mail to rural ministers

for advice (Warner, 2003). Some forms could be submitted for claims electronically and

this meant a saving in time which could be crucial, especially in cases where farmers had

been slow in taking up benefits for which they qualified (Carruthers, 2002).

Many farmers kept up to date with the FMD crisis by using the Internet (Burton, 2003)

and others used the Internet to find information about the various funds, which could give

them financial assistance (Warner, 2003). However, of all the technologies available to

farmers, the telephone was the most useful since it allowed voice communication, was

very familiar to the users (important in time of stress (Redmill and Rajan, 1997)) and was

relatively unobtrusive.

Many clergy and rural ministers utilised the telephone, calling regularly every week to

keep contact (Burton, 2003). Other clergy, including some bishops of predominantly rural

dioceses, wrote to the farmers assuring them of prayer support and some farmers kept the

cards, as a token of appreciation, which (mainly local) churches had sent (Burton, 2003).

Wherever possible, visits were made, particularly by rural chaplains, who took

preventative measures against spreading the disease by changing clothes and hosing

footwear with disinfectant. There is little doubt from the literature that these face-to-face

visits were much appreciated even to the point of becoming personal (Warner, 2003).

During the FMD crisis, then, there is little evidence of ICT tools being helpful beyond

their usual functions of assisting in office routines such as word-processing and form

filling. The Internet proved to be a useful source of current information about the state of

the disease and for obtaining ancillary information about funding possibilities and more

general issues such as land access. E-mail was useful as a speedy transmission process for

formal documents and also some personal correspondence. However, by far the most used

ICT for pastoral care and mutual support was the telephone, which allowed voice to voice

transmission through a familiar and relatively unobtrusive technology.

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567 561

5. Discussion

It can be seen from the account above that for many farmers the FMD outbreak was

considered to be a crisis. However, as Murgatroyd and Woolfe (1989) pointed out, an

event should not strictly be described as a crisis since it is the way people experience such

events that make them into crisis situations. Thus, for some, the same event may be

eventually considered positively while, for others, it may for ever scar their lives. Caplan

(1974, p. 41) defined a crisis as what happens when ‘a person faces a difficulty.in which

his [sic] existing coping repertoire is insufficient’. Murgatroyd and Woolfe (1989) reiterate

this by defining a crisis as an upsetting of a person’s stable world with the assumption that

humans will strive to maintain stability or homeostasis. Secondly, the person in a crisis

situation experiences arousal as they try to cope with the situation and this leads to tension

and anxiety. People usually manage a crisis by coping—which may be defined as a

person’s attempt to manage demands which tax or exceed their resources (Murgatroyd and

Woolfe, 1989).

People in stress situations respond in many varied ways which depend on the

psychological and physical conditions of the person as well as other characteristics such as

life stage and demographics (Sutherland and Cooper, 1990). The coping strategies

employed by the person under stress will vary according to their reactions to the crisis as

well as their vulnerability profile (Sutherland and Cooper, 1990).

Stress is well known to affect psychological and physical health but can be greatly

helped by suitable social interaction (Caplan, 1974; Worden, 1982; Sutherland and

Cooper, 1990). Clearly, this article considers only the social interaction aspects of a crisis

situation and particularly those coping strategies, which may be helped by ICT. Social

support is very important in crisis situations and the lack of such support can be shown to

cause health problems (Sutherland and Cooper, 1990). In essence, any action which shows

caring and love, builds up esteem and personal value, and gives rise to reliable support

when needed will benefit the person in crisis (Sutherland and Cooper, 1990).

Caplan (1974) developed a model of crisis behaviour based on a psychological

approach which has proved accurate for small groups such as families as well as schools

and co-operatives (Murgatroyd and Woolfe, 1989); this model, as developed by

Murgatroyd and Woolfe (1989), with its associated behaviours, is summarised in

Table 1. It should be noted that each stage of the model uses a different coping strategy,

which will depend on the personal perception of the problem. Caplan’s work has been

chosen here as it best summarises the stages of stress and coping as found in the FMD

crisis. Other models, such as that of Lazarus and Folkman which is the best known and

most widely used model (Eysenck, 1998), have not been chosen since this model in

particular was designed for chronic illness rather than external social stress factors; it also

does not contain sufficient depth for our purposes (Eysenck, 1998).

In phase 1 of Caplan’s model (Table 1), ICT tools can be helpful in linking people

with similar problems; the work of Preece (1998) for example, has well modelled the

process of sharing empathy with others and the part that the Internet can play in that.

For example, bulletin boards helped people to make contact with others who could

tell their own stories and exchange details about the problem. This usage was

mirrored by the farmers who used the Internet to keep up to date about FMD and also

Table 1

Summary of Caplan’s crisis model with associated personal behaviour (based on Murgatroyd and Woolfe, 1989)

Phase Problem Feelings Solution Typical characteristics

1. Routine

coping

mechanisms

Threat,

precious loss

Tension

mounts

Previous

successful

strategies

tried

Help sought through empathetic groups

and individuals

2. Trial and

error coping

mechanisms

Solutions to

phase 1 failed

Tension

increases to

possibly

helplessness

Trial and

error

strategies

tried

Hiding feelings, covering up (Hicks,

2000); regression starts (Caplan, 1974)

3. Make or

break stage

Solutions to

phase 2 failed

Tension

increases

further

Emergency

ideas more

risky; partial

solutions only

Need for normality, leaning on someone,

may not be able to pray (Hicks, 2000);

escapism (Caplan, 1974)

4. Severe

state of crisis

Solutions to

phase 3 failed

Tension

above coping

threshold,

breakdown of

personal

psychology,

depression,

illness

Insufficient

personal

resources to

cope, skilled

help needed

Withdrawal, practical help needed, unable

to pray but often find prayer from another

person helpful (Hicks, 2000); depression,

illness (Caplan, 1974); loss of self esteem

(Worden, 1982)

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567562

by those who sought help through funds and other means. However, in these cases,

recovery was seen as the goal, thus indicating that the people had not yet (fortunately)

passed into stage 2 of Caplan’s model, where we see the first stages of withdrawal or

covering up the perceived severity of the problem as the person tries other coping

strategies. As these fail to alleviate the problem, people pass to stage 3, sometimes

imperceptibly, when they need someone on whom to lean and someone who will

gently help them with support. Hicks (2000) made the point that, at this stage, people

would like to pray but often cannot pray for themselves and so need someone to pray

alongside them. Many of the farmers described above can be seen to be at stage 3 in

Caplan’s model; for example, those farmers who were slow to take up financial help

even though it was sorely needed indicated a reticence reminiscent of escapism in that

they hoped the problem would go away. Thus these people needed someone to bring

normality and reality into their lives as well as offering support. This need to ‘talk to

someone’ emphasises the need for human to human contact rather than contact via

some asynchronous technology. In stage 4, the person needs professional help

psychologically while still needing someone alongside them to support and to pray for

them often instead of with them. The cases of police being brought in to remove

firearms in order to prevent suicide attempts in the FMD crisis exemplifies this stage.

It is not surprising then that people at stages 3 and 4 of Caplan’s model, ideally require

another human in personal contact and preferably face-to-face (Caplan, 1974). Here, the

Christian pastoral carer can give much support acting as a friend while keeping the

professional bounds of confidentiality and genuine care (Campbell, 1991). However, in

the FMD crisis, ICT had to be used since visiting was not possible in most cases.

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567 563

6. Use of ICT in the FMD crisis

ICT tools can be divided into synchronous (those which operate in real-time)

technologies and asynchronous (those which require a time-lag, however short, in

communication) technologies. We have seen that when a person is within stages 3 or 4 of

Caplan’s model, synchronous communication is more helpful for pastoral support than

asynchronous since the person needs human comfort without intrusion of technology. The

most commonly used synchronous technology is the telephone.

7. Use of telephone in the FMD crisis

Within the FMD crisis, human support was acknowledged as being of paramount

importance (Cumbria, 2002) and the telephone allows the human element of communication

to show in a way, which other ICT tools cannot replicate. While the telephone is not

equivalent to a face-to-face visit (Warner, 2003), it is essential where a personal visit cannot

be made (Caplan, 1974) as it permits real-time (synchronous) discussion in a way, which

allows instant consolation, support and concern to be shown. In human distress, humans

need other humans to give support; one farmer in Dumfriesshire kept a diary throughout the

FMD crisis and freely admits that a positive outcome from the crisis was ‘a powerful

reminder of how important are family, friends and colleagues.’ (Cumbria, 2002, p. 4). The

telephone allows the client to know that s/he is not alone in the crisis in a way in which no

other ICT does; the carer can talk ‘through’ things in real-time, giving reassurance but also

practical help and advice, again in real-time. Thus, genuineness and empathy with the person

can be exhibited through the telephone (Sanders, 1993). While the telephone does not allow

non-verbal clues to be shown (unless it is a video-phone), some non-verbal information can

be gained from background sounds and voice usage by the client; thus, some fairly accurate

assessment of the situation can be obtained beyond the words spoken, even if this may be

incomplete. This can only be an asset for the carer (Jacobs, 1987).

The telephone is also a convenient instrument in that it is readily available in homes and

community centres and nearly all people have access to a telephone, unless it has been cut-

off for non-payment, as happened during the FMD crisis (Warner, 2003). By telephone,

then, the pastoral carer generally can make contact readily with the client (farmer) in an

unobtrusive manner and yet still in a personal and confidential way. For people within stage

4 of Caplan’s model, the telephone also allows prayer to be said for the person in real-time.

If the recipient does not answer a telephone call, then the caller can try again later without

fear of seeming to be persistent. In addition, if the recipient has a voice-mail provision,

messages can be left reassuring the recipient but messages of an emotionally charged nature

should not be left (Fisher and Fisher, 2001); thus, the telephone has the facility to be both

synchronous and asynchronous while also being familiar (Warner, 2003).

Given these points, it is not surprising that charities such as Samaritans use the

telephone as its main communication tool as well as other charities such as the Rural

Stress Information Network and Farm Crisis Network (Carruthers, 2002). It is familiar to

all and, with the advent of cheap mobile telephones, communication is possible across the

world at any time.

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567564

8. The internet (including e-mail)

The Internet is an asynchronous technology as even if communications are exchanged

by return, there is a time-lag while each correspondent types the reply. However, where a

person is able to accommodate this delay, Internet usage gives support in the early stages

of a crisis.

Bulletin boards and other Internet multi-user domains (MUDs), as well as the Internet

as an information source, all have a place in the early stages of a crisis situation (Preece,

1998) and their use in the FMD crisis has already been noted. However, because they

require effort by the user in interacting with the technology and communicating with other

users, their use is limited beyond the first two stages of Caplan’s model since, in the third

and final stages, the person is withdrawing from community contact and needs support on

a one-to-one basis (Hicks, 2000). However, in the early stages of a crisis, MUDs can be

useful for exchanging information about the problem and giving mutual support (Preece,

1998; Turkle, 1995); they may prevent a person from degenerating into a deeper crisis

although real evidence for this is lacking.

While e-mail was used in the FMD crisis for more formal correspondence, usage was

rather akin to letter writing. E-mail is useful in providing a record but its use is extremely

limited in confidential situations (Fisher and Fisher, 2001) and while it was useful for

more formal actions such as sending forms quickly, it played little part in pastoral care

during the FMD crisis except for sending prayers and similar documents, such as

greeting cards. In addition, e-mail leaves the recipients to pray for themselves, thus

providing some support for those at stages 1 and 2 of Caplan’s model; however, the

farmers worst hit by the FMD crisis were beyond doing this for themselves and needed

prayers by other people (Warner, 2003). Again, this is not uncommon in crisis

counselling (Short and Searle, 2004) as clients may be within stages 3 and 4 of Caplan’s

model.

Today, in general communication, e-mail is fast replacing telephone calls since it

allows the message to be read at the recipient’s leisure and may be compared to a letter.

However, since all pastoral care is confidential and, in crises, care may be highly charged

with emotion, it is best not to use e-mail since deleted e-mails may not be destroyed and

inter-personal messages may go astray (Fisher and Fisher, 2001). Again, e-mail allows the

use of emotional icons but these should never be used in pastoral care as humour can be

easily mis-interpreted especially when a client may be already emotionally upset (Fisher

and Fisher, 2001). E-mail is usually quick and allows immediate delivery which may be

very helpful in the case of urgent support being needed. As with the telephone, e-mail does

not allow observation of non-verbal cues but it does allow some probing ‘between the

lines’; although without the client being present to confirm or to deny these perceptions,

their value may be limited.

Before completing the discussion about the use of ICT technologies in the FMD crisis,

it should be noted that farmers used office type software in the usual way for business

needs and writing letters but these software systems played little part in the pastoral care

itself beyond facilitating practical actions, such as funding applications, necessary to

improve the farmers’ situations.

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567 565

9. Towards the future

It is interesting that, throughout the FMD crisis, there is little evidence of the use of the

one synchronous ICT that could have mimicked face-to-face communication, viz. video-

conferencing. This ICT is used in the workplace for communicating conference lectures,

committee meetings and other business meetings across the globe in spite of being

unreliable at times in the experience of this author. However, its use in pastoral care must

still be limited since the technology remains too intrusive to be used in sensitive situations

(Fisher and Fisher, 2001). In addition, the ordinary person generally only has access to

video-conferencing equipment through a company workplace and for many farmers the

purchase of such equipment would be beyond their priorities as they struggle to make

financial ends meet. However, should home video-conferencing becomes a more everyday

occurrence, it will give the carer some non-verbal cues and possibly allow them to see the

state of the surroundings in which the client is living. Even so, this will be intrusive and is

unlikely to be very helpful when the client has progressed beyond stage 1 of Caplan’s

model. Making arrangements for a video-conferencing meeting (Fisher and Fisher, 2001)

requires effort by the person under stress and so is unlikely to help those people already

beyond stage 2 of Caplan’s model. Even so, video-conferencing is the nearest ICT tool to

meeting face-to-face and when the technology allows for a seamless integration into

ordinary life, it may prove beneficial in pastoral care. However, it will need to

communicate human interaction synchronously to be of good value.

Software, which could alleviate the need for the human carer has long been

contemplated, as the software attempts to discuss problems with the user. Turkle (1995)

related how such software can be helpful initially but soon falls foul of the user through

misinterpretation, often in natural language processing or lack of sufficient vocabulary.

These systems may be helpful (eventually) for people in the early stages of a crisis but

again, they are user activated and so rely on the user having sufficient strength of purpose

to interact with the system. It is likely that users in stages 3 and 4 of Caplan’s model would

find difficulty in summoning enough energy and will to try such a system; evidence from

the FMD crisis, at least, suggests that these people would much prefer another human

alongside them.

In the early stages of a crisis, it is possible that web logs (blogs) could be useful. From

initially being little more than diaries, they have developed into complex social structures

which are still in the early stages of academic evaluation (Adar and Adamic, 2005).

Certainly, it is likely that their use in the future will supplement information from official

sources by providing information of a more personal nature but still be useful for general

application in addition to new summaries and the like. For example, www.scienceblog.

com/community/older/2002/B/20026447.html reported on a similar report to Cumbria

(2002), which suggested that few farmers were thinking of leaving the industry in spite of

the FMD epidemic. This could be used to encourage those who were in the early stages of

depression.

Without crystal ball gazing, it is difficult to identify another existing technology beyond

the telephone, which could be developed for pastoral care for people within stages 3 and 4

of Caplan’s model. The problem is that people at these stages are often unable to help

themselves and so need someone to be alongside them, whether it be for giving physical

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567566

help or spiritual support. It is often only after three or four visits that the person is able to

start communicating with the carer (Murgatroyd and Woolfe, 1989) and so is unlikely to

reply to any ICT usage, which requires user response, let alone participation. This is why

human participation from the carer is so important and why ideally visiting is essential

(Caplan, 1974). The telephone best mimics this situation since it is unobtrusive but allows

a familiar voice to greet the distressed person. It is this synchronous and human

communication that is nearest to an actual visit, which gives the client a chance to lean and

to feel supported (Hicks, 2000).

10. Conclusion

This article has demonstrated the need for a synchronous ICT which can reflect the

human characteristics of communication including responding to need in a sensitive and

caring, yet relatively unobtrusive, way. The FMD crisis has shown that in serious cases of

crisis care, the telephone has been used to good advantage in the absence of personal

visiting.

The limits of this research, however, suggest that more needs to be done to find out if

these tentative findings hold in other similar situations. For example, in other cases of

extreme trauma, research needs to explore the ways in which pastoral care, with its

implicit characteristics of first approach rather than waiting for the sufferer to establish a

professional relationship, its non-judgemental and friendly listening and its raison d’etre

of ‘just being there’, can benefit from ICT. Further investigation into the use of MUDs and

other Internet therapies is needed to assess if such virtual communities can save people

from degenerating into deeper crisis.

In the case study approach, it is accepted that only a Christian viewpoint has been taken

and it would be interesting to know if other religions have a similar practice and if their

carers found similar results. For example, Islamic tradition may adopt a different

perspective on crisis caring and this could yield different results.

This research has focussed on the model developed by Caplan, which has been proven

to work for the type of family groupings and small business environments found in UK

farming, but other models may yield different results. In particular, Lazarus and Folkman’s

model (Eysenck, 1998) could be developed to accommodate crises beyond those of

physical health to include the social aspects of crises similar to FMD.

All this future work points to a development of the ideas expressed in this article and

would hopefully throw light on a complex and difficult potential use of ICT. Certainly,

there is a need for help to reach those in crisis and any technology that can assist in this is

of value to the community at large.

References

Adar, E., Adamic, L.A., 2005. Tracking Information Epidemics in Blogspace, Proceedings of the 2005

IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence, (WI’05), Compiegne, France, Available

from: www.hpl.hp.com/research/idl/papers/blogs2/

S. Mills / Interacting with Computers 18 (2006) 556–567 567

Bryman, A., Bell, E., 2003. Business Research Methods. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Burton, L., 2003. Church-going farmers and foot and mouth disease. Journal of Beliefs and Values 24 (2), 183–

195.

Campbell, A.V., 1991. Paid to Care? The Limits of Professionalism in Pastoral Care. SPCK, London.

Caplan, G., 1974. An Approach to Community Mental Health. Tavistock Publications, London.

Carruthers, S.P., 2002. Farming Families in Crisis. A Profile of the Recipients of RABI and ARC-Addington Fund

grants during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic. Arthur Rank Centre, Stoneleigh, UK (available

from the Arthur Rank Centre).

Cumbria, 2002. Evidence submitted to Cumbria Foot and Mouth Disease Inquiry submitted by: Institute for

Health Research, Lancaster University, 26th April 2002.

De Vaus, D., 2001. Research Design in Social Research. Sage Publications Ltd, London.

Devon, 2001. The Devon Foot and Mouth Inquiry Voices from the written Submissions to the Devon Inquiry—4,

Devon County Council, Available from: www.devon.gov.uk/fminquiry/finalreport/voices/writtenvoices4.

html.

Eysenck, M., 1998. Psychology an Integrated Approach. Addison Wesley Longman, Harlow.

Fisher, K., Fisher, M.D., 2001. The Distance Manager a Hands-On Guide to Managing Off-Site Employees and

Virtual Teams. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

Gatward, G., 2005. Sermon given at Boldmere Methodist Church, Sutton Coldfield, 13th February, 2005.

Hereford, 2001. Diocese of Hereford Annual Report Summary Report and Accounts for 2001, Available from:

www.hereford.anglican.org/pages/wod_admin_annual-report.html.

Hicks, P., 2000. A Handbook for Helpers. What can I say? Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester.

Jacobs, M., 1987. Swift to Hear Facilitating Skills in Listening and Responding. SPCK, London.

Kennard, D., 2004. A Shepherd’s Watch Through the Seasons with One Man and his Dogs. Headline Book

Publishing, London.

Murgatroyd, S., Woolfe, R., 1989. Coping with Crisis Understanding and Helping People in Need. Open

University Press, Milton Keynes.

Mycock, Clive Langford, 2005. ‘Farming subsidies are on the way out’, Uttoxeter Post & Times, September 15th,

2005, p. 20.

Preece, Jenny, 1998. ‘Empathic Communities: Reaching out across the Web’, Interactions, Available from:

www.ifsm.umbc.edu/communities/Interactionsfinal.html.

Redmill, F., Rajan, J., 1997. Human Factors in Safety-Critical Systems. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

Sanders, P., 1993. An Incomplete Guide to Using Counselling Skills on the Telephone. PCCS Books, Manchester.

Short, D., Searle, D., 2004. Pastoral Visitation a Pocket Manual. Christian Focus Publications Ltd, Tain.

Silverman, D., 2000. Doing Qualitative Research a Practical Handbook. Sage Publications Ltd, London.

Soffe, R.J., 1995. Primrose McConnell’s The Agricultural Notebook, 19th ed. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford.

Spedding, C. (Ed.), 1983. Fream’s Agriculture. John Murray.

Sutherland, V.J., Cooper, C.L., 1990. Understanding Stress a Psychological Perspective for Health Professionals.

Chapman and Hall, London.

Taylor, H., 1989. Tend My Sheep Applied Theology 2. SPCK, London.

Turkle, S., 1995. Life on the Screen Identity in the Age of the Internet. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.

Warner, R., 2003. Shepherd to the Sheep Pastor to the People. Royce Warner, Penmaenmawr.

Worcester, 2001. The Diocese of Worcester—Press Release 19a/2001 Advice to rural clergy in face of the foot

and mouth outbreak, Available from: www.cofe-worcester.org.uk/media/press_releases/p01_dw019a.html.

Worden, J.W., 1982. Grief Counselling and Grief Therapy. Tavistock Publications, London.

Yin, R.K., 2003. Case Study Research Design and Methods, third ed. Sage Publications, Inc., Thousand

Oaks, CA.