Becoming chaplains: How and why chaplains enter the field, factors involved and implications

Abstract

Many questions arise concerning how and why chaplains enter the field. Interviews of ∼1 one hour each were conducted with 23 U.S. chaplains. Chaplains vary widely in professional and personal backgrounds and experiences, which they often draw on in their work. Personal experiences can lead them to enter the field, enhance their empathy and strengthen their commitment. They have frequently faced significant trauma (e.g., parent’s death) or helped family and/or friends with end-of-life challenges. Chaplains often entered other fields first (e.g., clergy, business or healthcare), but they often had incomplete or incorrect prior knowledge about the field. Prior experiences can also affect their work (e.g., in recognizing the power of silence). A sense of personal “calling” frequently leads chaplains to find their work deeply rewarding and sustaining. These data, the first to explore how and why chaplains enter the field, have critical implications for future practice, education and research.

Keywords:

• Chaplaincy education
• chaplains
• learning by doing
• professional identity
• professional socialization

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Beverly Gu, Timothy Keith Hung and especially Patricia Contino for their assistance with the preparation of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The interviewees discussed identifying details in their open-ended responses, concerning themselves and patients and other providers, and the process of de-identification would be difficult and complicated, so that the data are not publicly available on any websites at the moment. The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.