chaplain, spiritual care, chaplaincy, spirituality,

CONTEXT: This statement fills a significant gap in the efforts to demonstrate outcomes of the chaplaincy role in health care and to provide direction for quality measurement related to spiritual care as a key domain of serious illness care. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this project was to develop the first major consensus statement on the role and qualifications of health care chaplains in the US. METHOD: The statement was developed by a diverse panel of highly regarded professional chaplains and non-chaplain stakeholders...

One in four American patients now identify as religiously unaffiliated. This study utilizes thematic analysis to deliver qualitative results from in-depth interviews conducted with five chaplains at a premier cancer research institution in Florida to envision what care for their spiritual dimension should look like in practice. It demonstrates why the chaplains interviewed suggested that spiritual caregiving still contributes to their holistic wellbeing, and it suggests how spiritual care and assessments may be provided to so-called religious 'nones'-or those who identify as spiritual but not religious, not religiously affiliated, secular humanist, atheist, agnostic, and so on...

The aim of this study was to explore Australian chaplains' views of spirituality. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with 16 participants. Participants relied heavily on metaphors and analogies to describe spirituality. Four inter-related themes were identified through reflexive thematic analysis: (1) The core of spirituality: spirituality as a source of meaning or belief which leads to connectedness with something greater than oneself; (2) A function of spirituality: spirituality empowers people to cope in a crisis, by providing motivation, hope and comfort; (3) The experience of spiritual crisis: admission to hospital or residential care can lead to existential struggle; and (4) The spiritual practice: of holding space between struggle and growth...

Outpatient chaplaincy is a new specialty in healthcare, with a relative paucity of research studies exploring the need for spiritual care interventions in ambulatory settings. Over the past 3 years, our interdisciplinary team at the Duke Outpatient Clinic has piloted the extension of professional spiritual care into this hospital-based resident teaching clinic offering primary care to underserved populations in Durham, NC. In this article, we report the results of a series of surveys that we conducted at the clinic to assess patients' perceptions of chaplain services, understanding of Chaplains' roles, and desire for chaplain services in specific hypothetical scenarios...

This first issue of JORH for 2023 considers (1) the ministry of chaplains, (2) Judaism, (3) the people of war-torn Ukraine, (4) the ongoing saga of COVID-19 and, on a happier note, (5) we celebrate a belated jubilee by presenting a bibliometric analysis of the Journal of Religion and Health (1961-2021). To conclude this issue, a book review is presented, "The Desperate Hours" by award winning journalist Marie Brenner, focusing on one hospital's fight to save New York City during COVID-19. A reminder is also provided to readers on the call for papers regarding a future issue on religion, spirituality, suicide and its prevention...

PURPOSE: The benefit of spiritual care for patients is well described, but little is known about the role of spiritual care in transgender and nonbinary patients recovering from gender affirming surgeries (GASs). METHODS: A single-center retrospective chart review was performed on patients who underwent GAS in 2017. Demographic information, surgery type, and chaplains' narrative notes were examined. RESULTS: A total of 145 chaplain visits were identified in 103 inpatient stays among 98 patients at the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York...

Healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand is currently undergoing major reform. A document review of spiritual care policies of (former) District Health Boards (DHBs) obtained via the Official Information Act 1982 was undertaken in August 2022. Dalglish, Khalid and McMahon's (2020) READ process was used for analysis. Eight of twenty DHBs reported that they had no spiritual care policy. While there is commonality in terms of pastoral interventions provided, there is variation in how chaplains are expected to practice...

These data, the first to explore chaplains' challenges in ending visits/relationships with patients/families, has critical implications for practice, education, and research. Questions arise about the scope/boundaries of chaplains' relationships with patients/families. Interviews were conducted with 23 chaplains who face questions/challenges regarding how to end visits and interactions, including individual conversations and ongoing relationships with patients/families. Chaplains confront uncertainties and rely on verbal- and non-verbal cues to gauge how long to stay with each patient/family, and they are sometimes unsure...

The importance of spirituality in patient care is well recognized and efforts to develop educational opportunities to improve medical students' competency in spirituality and health are ongoing. In this regard, shadowing of healthcare chaplains has emerged as an experiential approach for providing exposure to and instruction in issues of spirituality in the patient experience and in patient care. Recently published data suggest that a 6-8 hour experience of shadowing a trauma chaplain is effective at introducing first-year medical students to healthcare chaplaincy, difficult spiritual conversations with patients and families, and interprofessional collaboration...

This overview of the current literature of spirituality and health and the role of professional chaplains specifically considers intensive care unit survivorship, instead of the more common focus on end-of-life circumstances or family support on an ICU. The purpose is to enhance clinicians' understanding and use of spiritual resources for patient care and outcomes. It is a product of comprehensive daily monitoring of the Medline database from 2002 to 2022 for all publications indexed by the terms "spiritual," "religion," and "chaplain...

It is critical to understand the characteristics of patients who receive spiritual care through chaplain visits. This study evaluated 2373 records from chaplain visits provided to 1315 patients over a three-month period (March-May 2021) at a large suburban teaching hospital, Midwest, USA. Approximately 70% of patients received one chaplain visit. However, data revealed that when patients were admitted emergently, or received visits for reasons related to self-harm or suicidality, the frequency of chaplain visits significantly increased...

The aim of this study was to describe the range of spiritual care activities in support of clinical colleagues at a subset of U.S. hospitals. A descriptive cross-sectional design using a 76-item Zoom/telephone guided survey containing a subset of staff care questions was employed. Data were provided by directors/managers responsible for spiritual care services at the 2020-2021  U.S. News & World Report top hospitals. Results identified staff support as an important chaplaincy function at both organizational and spiritual care department levels...

An expert panel consisting of six mental health chaplains from several European countries was convened to ascertain the specific contribution of mental health chaplains to suicide prevention, and to generate good practices for suicide prevention. Three themes emerged: (1) the importance of timing; (2) fundamental attitudes of the chaplain towards the patient, and (3) appropriate interventions.

Hospitalized individuals in the United States with limited English proficiency (LEP) may experience complications when receiving hospital care. Grounded in the ethical principles of chaplaincy and motivated by the desire to address inequitable health service provision, we developed the Cross-Language Chaplaincy Introduction Guidebook . The Guidebook introduces chaplaincy in 20 different languages with the goal of improving chaplain accessibility. We report on the rigorous development of the Guidebook and how to integrate the resource clinically...

Hospital chaplains perform important activities, but critical questions arise about the challenges they may face in working with patients, and how these professionals respond. Thirty-three telephone interviews of approximately 1 hour and were conducted with 21 board-certified chaplains. When asked about their biggest challenges and most rewarding interactions, several chaplains described rejections by patients or families. Patients and families at times rejected chaplains, and did so for six broad types of reasons - not wanting to discuss the disease due to conflicted feelings, including anger or frustration at the patient, the cosmos or God; or wanting to minimize it; wanting a chaplain of their own faith; or of a particular gender or other characteristic; being atheist or wary of religion; or misunderstanding what chaplains do...

Chaplains are embedded in several ambulance services across Australia, however as Australia's religiosity is currently in decline and questions are being asked about retaining chaplains, little is actually known about their role and value within Ambulance services. The aim of this paper is to present the key findings from interviews with chaplains about their role and value of being ambulance chaplains. These findings are then compared with those of paramedics derived from an earlier phase of this study...

Spiritually integrated care that includes collaborations among chaplains, psychologists, and other health care professionals can have a profound effect on people's lives. To facilitate this care, scholars and policy makers need to understand where chaplains work and how they are (or are not) formally a part of institutions, particularly those funded by the state and federal government. This article offers a short history of chaplaincy and provides snapshots about where chaplains work as federal and state employees in three sample states: Massachusetts, Illinois, and California...

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has prioritized improving the identification of veterans at risk for suicide and ensuring adequate staffing of personnel to assist veterans in need. It is imperative that suicide prevention efforts make use of the full range of available resources, including diverse professionals with distinctive skillsets. Chaplains are engaged in suicide prevention efforts in VA, but the literature lacks examples of chaplain-involved suicide prevention efforts that clearly describe how chaplains are engaged, the training and/or qualifications chaplains possess in the area of suicide prevention, and the reach and impact of such efforts...

As research has become part of chaplaincy, many chaplains become involved in research, often in the double-role of chaplain-researcher. Despite the increase of involvement in research, how conducting research benefits chaplains' professional care for clients has not been studied. The present study aimed to describe how chaplains perceive the impact of participation in the Dutch Case Studies Project (CSP) on their professional expertise and positioning in the institution. A survey was distributed among participants of the CSP (N = 50) and was completed by 48 participants...

A literature review was conducted to examine the role of spirituality with resiliency in the pediatric workplace. Two themes emerged from the literature review: healthcare practitioners desire to have a sense of belonging at work and the utilization of chaplains is helpful. This study aims to discover how practitioners experience spiritual health in the workplace and identify interventions that enhance resiliency with the challenges of pediatrics. Implications from this study are applied to chaplaincy and research...