While institutions such as HDS have been graduating Buddhist chaplains for more than a decade, there are no clear statistics on how many and where Buddhist chaplains are currently working in the field of spiritual care in North America. This project is a first attempt to answer some fundamental questions about Buddhist chaplaincy as a professional field, including how many Buddhist chaplains there are, where they work, what Buddhist traditions they represent, where they are educated, how they are certified, and what concerns they have about their profession. These are areas of broad concern identified by the Buddhist Ministry Working Group (BMWG), a consortium of educators inthe field, and the data collected by this study will be foundational to further, more nuanced research and advocacy with and for Buddhist chaplains.
This project has been developed by a multi-institute Research Team representing the four existing accredited MDiv in Buddhist Chaplaincy programs. In addition to the Research Team, other members of the BMWG have committed to serving on an Advisory Panel to help refine research questions and methods, review aggregate data and provide input on patterns and trends, and assist in distributing surveys and other calls for research participants to a broad audience.Advisory Panel members represent many of the non-accredited Buddhist chaplaincy training programs and professional networks.
The project will use a mixed research methodology (surveys, focus groups, and interviews) and be conducted in two phases. It will start with a comprehensive survey to locate and collect basic information about Buddhist chaplains in late summer and fall 2020 and continue with more qualitative investigations in spring 2021 based on the findings of the initial survey. The initial Likert-style survey will identify and query practicing self-identified Buddhist chaplains in the United States, and collect information on demographics, chaplaincy training, and Buddhist formation and practice. Constructivist grounded theory methodologies will then guide further in-depth questions as they arise within the project, as these methods are suitable to open-ended research that does not start with a hypothesis or theory, but allows a theory to “emerge” from the data collected.
Data collection and analysis will be completed in flexible phases that enable responsiveness to discovery while alsodriving towards theory-formation and useful conclusions. This work will present a valuable portrait of a professionand field in the early stages of formation and identify avenues of further research and professional activism to ensurea secure future for Buddhist chaplains in North America. It will be an invaluable tool for educators in the variousprograms for Buddhist chaplains, certification and training bodies such as the APC and APCE, scholars contributingto the growing body of literature on Buddhist spiritual care, employers and supervisors who hire Buddhist chaplains,and professionals working in the field.
Research Team
- Cheryl Giles, Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecturer on Pastoral Care and Counseling, Harvard Divinity School
- Monica Sanford, Assistant Director for Spirituality & Religious Life, Rochester Institute of Technology
- Elaine Yuen, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Naropa University
- Jitsujo Gauthier, Co-Chair and Professor of Buddhist Chaplaincy, University of the West
- Daijaku Judith Kinst, Noboru and Yaeko Hanyu Professor of Buddhist Chaplaincy, Buddhist ChaplaincyProgram Director, and Sōtō Zen Buddhist Studies Certificate Program Director, Institute of Buddhist Studies
Timeline
- July-August 2020
- IRB approved
- Survey distributed
- September-October 2020
- Survey data collected
- Data analyzed
- November-December 2020
- Findings reviewed
- Phase 2 focus areas and methods chosen
- January-February 2021
- Qualitative data collection, including surveys, interviews, and focus groups
- March-April 2021
- Data analysis
- Findings reviewed
- May-June 2021
- Conclusions drafted
- Reports and publications prepared