Proposing religiously informed, relationally skillful chaplaincy theory

Abstract

Research on the multiple uses of religion/spirituality (R/S) in healthcare and on the practices of healthcare chaplaincy support creation of a middle-range, prescriptive theory for chaplaincy for patients who use R/S in their healthcare experiences. Religiously Informed, Relationally Skillful Chaplaincy Theory (RIRSCT) seeks to integrate research into practice in order to improve spiritual care and allow for testing RIRSCT. The components of RIRSCT are: patients whose religion is a significant part of their worldview often use R/S in healthcare to make meaning, to cope, and to make medical decisions; chaplains should be the members of the healthcare team to assess and address R/S; healthcare teams could provide more personalized treatment by integrating patients’ R/S into the treatment plan, which could improve patient experience. This article describes the components of RIRSCT and provides examples of chaplaincy guided by RIRSCT. Selected research articles supporting theory components are reviewed.

Keywords:

• Chaplaincy
• chaplaincy education
• healthcare chaplaincy
• religion
• spirituality
• theory

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Elizabeth Diop, Cindy Jones, and Amy Simpson Bennethum who wrote the vignettes appearing at the beginning of each section. We thank Olivia Hamilton, Christopher Young, Marianne Wilson, and Elizabeth Diop who provided vignettes and feedback on implementing RIRSCT in chaplaincy. We thank John Ehman, Janet Schultz, Bruce Gay, Daniel H. Grossoehme, and Barbara Giambra who made suggestions that improved the article.