Abstract:
Until now, there has not been a single, accepted profile of the role of health care chaplains. De Vries, Berlinger, and Cadge (2008) clearly identify the issue when they say, the specific duties and responsibilities of their job are ill-defined.
The duties and tasks were defined by consensus in this study using a widely used occupational analysis methodology known as DACUM. Through this study, a profile was developed by consensus and validated for the role of health care chaplain and recommendations begun for revising the current methods for developing curriculum used in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) units. A modified DACUM was conducted following the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) model for DACUM facilitation.
CPE Supervisors could customize the curriculum for their site based on their style and philosophy. There was no standard, accepted curriculum. Based on the ACPE Standards (Appendix A) and current practice there was a reason to question whether students were prepared for the role. The question that arose: was the reason that role-specific courses were not part of a training curriculum because the role was not defined by those in the role? There was a need to thoroughly review the role using a methodology that could be used to develop a profile that lends itself to curriculum development, training delivery, and professional consensus.
The primary conclusion regarding the role of a health care chaplain, coming from this study, is the reason that there is confusion about the role is that those in the role had not been consulted about the duties and tasks performed by a chaplain. A secondary reason why the role of health care chaplain has the tension brought about by two schools of thought is the result of there not being a standard curriculum used in their training.