Abstract:

What do chaplains do? The rising interest in relation to spiritual care leaves questions: what activities (if any) are intrinsic to chaplaincy? Where (if at all) does the spiritual merge with the religious? And how does this relate to the overall pursuit of holistic well-being? As an investi-gative and reflective exercise, interviews were conducted with palliative care chaplains. The re-sulting data suggests a focus of activity around the eliciting, holding and representing of the stories of patients and their families, all exercised with reference to the multi-disciplinary team.

Author: Stuart M. Coates