Frank Bennett, PhD, MDiv

Frank is a Senior Fellow at the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota. He is an educator, researcher and chaplain, focusing on improving end-of-life care outcomes for patients, families and health care professionals. Frank created Living Well, Dying Well in 2015 to provide academic courses, professional development, community education, re-search and evaluation around communication in end-of-life care.  

Frank is dedicated to supporting patient-centered decision making, with a special focus on care and support for individuals living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. His research publications identify successful strategies and catalysts nurses employ to facilitate goal-concordant end-of-life care. He provides education in community, professional and academic settings. Frank has a BS in Education, an MDiv in Pastoral Care and a PhD in Nursing.

Publications:

Bennett, F., & O'Conner-Von, S. (2022). “Continuous commitment: Long-term care RNs' experi-ence communicating with residents and their families about end-of-life care preferences.” Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 48(11), 29-36

Bennett, F. (2022) “Presence”. in R. Lindquist, M. Tracy & M. Snyder (Eds.), Complementary Therapies in Nursing (9th ed., pp 21-32). Springer.

Bennett, F., Hadidi, N., & OʼConner-Von, S. (2021). “End-of-life care communication in long-term care between nurses, older adult residents and families: A critical review of qualitative re-search.” Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 47(7):43-49

O'Conner-Von, S., & Bennett, F. (2020). “Long-term care nurses and their experiences with pa-tients' and families' end-of-life preferences: A focus group study.” Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 46(12), 23-29.

Bennett, F., & OʼConner-Von, S. (2020). “Communication interventions to improve goal-concordant care of seriously ill residents: An integrative review.” Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 22(1), 40-48

In The News

HealthTalk: How to Talk About Dying