‘What’s on your mind?’ The only necessary question in spiritual care

Snowden, Austyn; Lobb, Elizabeth Anne; Schmidt, Susanne; Swing, Ashley M.; Logan, Pamela; Macfarlane, Catherine

Abstract

Around the world, chaplains provide specialist spiritual care for
people with complex healthcare needs. If the nature of chaplain
interventions was better understood then multidisciplinary
colleagues could both improve their own skills in spiritual care
and better understand when to refer people to chaplains. A
survey was constructed to establish what aspects of the chaplain/
patient relationship were most important for patients in Scotland
and Australia. Outcomes were measured with the Scottish Patient
Reported Outcome Measure (Scottish PROM©). Results from 610
respondents showed the strongest correlation was between ‘being
able to talk about what is on my mind’ and the Scottish PROM
(rs(452) = .451, p < .0005). ‘Being able to talk about what is on my
mind’ proved more important than being listened to, having faith/
beliefs valued, or being understood. Given the importance placed
on listening and understanding by clinicians, this original and
counterintuitive finding goes some way to explaining the unique
role and function of healthcare chaplaincy.

Citation

Snowden, A., Lobb, E. A., Schmidt, S., Swing, A. M., Logan, P., & Macfarlane, C. (2018). ‘What’s on your mind?’ The only necessary question in spiritual care. Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 8(1), 19-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/20440243.2018.1431031

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 12, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Feb 25, 2018
• Publication Date: Jan 2, 2018
• Deposit Date: Feb 17, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2019
• Journal: Journal for the study of Spirituality
• Print ISSN: 2044-0243
• Electronic ISSN: 2044-0251
• Publisher: Maney Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 19-33
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20440243.2018.1431031
• Keywords: Religious studies
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1048283