Chaplains and telechaplaincy: best practices, strengths, weaknesses-a national study.

Telechaplaincy is the use of telecommunications and virtual technology to deliver religious/spiritual care. It has been used for decades, but chaplains' understanding of telehealth lags behind other disciplines. The purpose of this study was to describe the use of telechaplaincy in the United States and chaplains' perceptions of the practice.

Feasibility and acceptability of a telephone-based chaplaincy intervention in a large, outpatient oncology center.

Purpose: Telechaplaincy (the use of telecommunications and virtual technology to deliver spiritual and religious care by healthcare chaplains or other religious/spiritual leaders) is a relatively novel intervention that has increasingly been used in recent years, and especially during COVID-19. Telephone-based chaplaincy is one mode of telechaplaincy. The purpose of this study was to (1) describe telephone-based chaplaincy interventions delivered as the first point of contact to patients who screen positive for religious/spiritual concern(s) using an electronic data system, and (2) assess the feasibility and acceptability of delivering interventions in an outpatient cancer institute using this methodology.

Evaluation of a Chaplain Residency Program and Its Partnership with an In-Patient Palliative Care Team.

In 2009 a Consensus Conference of experts in the field of spiritual care and palliative care recommended the inclusion of Board-certified professional chaplains with at least 1,600 hours of clinical pastoral education as members of palliative care teams. This study evaluates a clinical pastoral education residency program's effectiveness in preparing persons to provide spiritual care for those with serious illness and in increasing the palliative care team members' understanding of the chaplain as part of the palliative care team. Results showed chaplain residents felt the program prepared them to provide care for those with serious illness.