Mainstreaming Spiritual Care in Healthcare

Citation: White, Kelsey B.; Adjei, Naana; Smith, Jr., Aubrey K.; McClelland, Laura; Barnes, Marilyn; Clark, Ralph; and Cadge, Wendy (2025). “Mainstreaming Spiritual Care in Healthcare Organizations: How Spiritual Care Providers Address Workforce Challenges, Access to Care & Patient Experience.” Chaplaincy Innovation Lab and Virginia Commonwealth University. https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/resources/working-papers/mainstreaming-spiritual-care-in-healthcare

Abstract of “Mainstreaming Spiritual Care in Healthcare Organizations”:

The Mainstreaming Spiritual Care in Health Care Organizations project explored – through a scoping review of the literature – how spiritual care impacts healthcare delivery. It described how healthcare executives can maximize their utilization of spiritual care providers to enhance workforce wellbeing, patient experience, and access to care. Spiritual care providers support all persons regardless of their religious or spiritual identity. They are members of the interdisciplinary team, employed by health organizations, and ideally board-certified through national training organizations. Recommendations and the evidence on which they are based fall into three main groups: workforce wellbeing, patient experience & patient satisfaction, and access to care.

We thank John Templeton Foundation for its support of this work. You can read more about this project here.