Abstract:

During the 1990's Spiritual Care has featured prominently in nursing and palliative care jour-nals. However, virtually nothing has been contributed by chaplains. Why? This article reports the findings of a research project considering whole-time health care chaplaincy in Scotland, as presented to the Scottish Association of Chaplains in Healthcare, at the Annual Conference in May1999. The findings are positive. There is a clear understanding among chaplains of their role and a continuity of practice. Spiritual care is clearly understood to be more than religious care, with chaplains readily acknowledging that all Health Care Professionals can provide it. The report highlights the importance of education and training for health care professionals to increase their understanding of spiritual care, and areas for further research needing to be ex-amined. The debate on spiritual care is happening now, chaplains need to ask some questions, research what they do, and join the debate.

Author: David Mitchell, Margaret Sneddon