WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A HEALTHCARE CHAPLAIN TO ENTER INTO RESEARCH?

Abstract

In this personal eye view article Alister shows how the engagement with research leads to reflective practice and greater support for practice. He gives an account of his own journey into research and the advantages that this has given him in terms of his working life. I am just one of a few chaplains who have taken up research as part of our work. As a member of the newly formed Spiritual Care National Research Development Group, I have been asked to share my research journey, thus far, to reveal what it might mean for other chaplains should they consider research for part of their work. In regards to my research background, I have published a couple of arti-cles. One of these was reporting on an audit concerning staff training needs for spiritual care, while the other was on the spiritual needs of children in hospital. I am currently working on a PhD where I am researching the insights gained from using an age-appropriate spiritual assessment tool with children in hospital.