Conceptualizing spiritual care in the U.S. through chaplain activities in research: a scoping review sub-analysis.

Authors

Kelsey B White, Naana Adjei, Laura E McClelland, Wendy Cadge

Published in

Journal of health care chaplaincy. Pages 1-30. Jul 01, 2026. Epub Jul 01, 2026.

Abstract

Healthcare chaplaincy has advanced toward establishing a more universally recognized professional identity. However, the profession lacks a comprehensive definition of what constitutes spiritual care. We conducted a sub-analysis of a larger scoping review of the existing spiritual care literature to further conceptualize spiritual care activities according to published research and from various clinical settings in the United States. This sub-analysis examined 44 articles and identified 388 individual activities which we grouped into 14 spiritual care categories. Most activities focused on patients and/or patients' families. Of the 388 activities, psycho-spiritual activities were the most common (19.6%), followed by spiritual assessment and/or spiritual support activities (16%), spiritual/religious rituals, and services (15.7%), and activities related to staff support and education (11.6%). Findings that a definition of spiritual care, as conceptualized through research articles, establishes interpersonal relationships through which spiritual and religious traditions, practices, beliefs, and values are facilitated to maximize health and wellbeing.

PMID:
42384448
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 02 Jul 2026.

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