After receiving a serious diagnosis or learning a loved one is in the ICU, patients and families often find themselves feeling overwhelmed. Alongside clinical care, spiritual care can help those patients and families navigate fear, uncertainty, loss and recovery.
Yet, despite its positive impact, spiritual care has been under-researched in comparison to its clinical counterparts. For the past decade, Transforming Chaplaincy at Rush has worked to change that.
Grounded in the belief that every patient deserves access to high-quality spiritual care, the program is a national leader in strengthening chaplaincy through rigorous research, innovative educational programs and collaboration across a growing global network of health systems.
The program, which is based in the Department of Religion, Health and Human Values and the Rush University College of Health Sciences, was the first of its kind and is one of only a handful in the United States that is part of both an academic and a hospital department.
“This 10-year milestone belongs to a community of committed people who believed change was possible and chose to build a future of spiritual care together,” said Jason Turner, PhD, MAE, dean of the College of Health Sciences. “The hope of transforming chaplaincy is no longer just an idea; it’s visibly integrated and alive in practice, benefiting patients in health care settings across the globe.”
Taking chaplaincy research into uncharted territory
George Fitchett, DMin, PhD, co-founder of Transforming Chaplaincy, has spent his entire 50-year career at Rush. After earning his PhD in epidemiology, he joined national conversations about strengthening spiritual care research across the United States.
One of those conversations was with Wendy Cadge, PhD, at the time a sociologist at Brandeis University. Cadge shared Fitchett’s belief that chaplaincy — like any field in health care — requires research. But, at the time, chaplaincy organizations lacked the resources needed to take research to the next level.
Together, Fitchett and Cadge secured grants totaling $4.5 million from the John Templeton Foundation and seed funding from spiritual care organizations to launch Transforming Chaplaincy.
“When we received the Templeton grants, there wasn’t much research being done in spiritual care,” said Fitchett, who now serves as Transforming Chaplaincy’s senior advisor. “I wondered to what extent we could strengthen the spiritual care we were offering patients, while also communicating more effectively with our medical colleagues and others. That’s where it all began.”
With that initial funding, Fitchett and Cadge took chaplaincy research into new territory — launching research literacy education for chaplains, a Chaplaincy Research Summer Institute and a global spiritual care research network. Today, that network brings together more than 2,700 chaplains, researchers, leaders and professional colleagues across a variety of clinical specialties, including hospice and palliative spiritual care, pediatrics, mental health care, cancer care and more.
Fitchett was also part of team that received a grant from the National Cancer Institute to study dignity therapy, the first NIH-funded intervention including chaplains.
When their initial funding ended, Transforming Chaplaincy formed partnerships with other health care organizations to continue to advance research about spiritual care and to develop research literacy among chaplains for evidence-based practice.
Crucial to Transforming Chaplaincy’s success is the support it’s received from Rush leadership. Fitchett was encouraged to pursue his interests in chaplaincy research, and numerous individuals at Rush have proven strong partners along the way.
Among them was Charlotte Royeen, PhD, the emerita A. Watson Armour III and Sarah Armour Professor and the former dean of the College of Health Sciences. Royeen gave her full support to Transforming Chaplaincy’s program of research, including support during leadership transitions after Fitchett’s retirement from the director role.
“Rush has really anchored this whole movement,” Fitchett said. “Without that support, none of this would have happened.”
Making a positive impact at the intersection of health and spirituality
Today, the groundbreaking program — now under the direction of Csaba Szilagyi, PhD — is a world leader in promoting evidence-based spiritual care and integrating research into professional practice and education by fostering a culture of inquiry.
“For us, it’s really important not just to elevate the profession, but to understand the ways that spiritual care benefits and impacts patient care,” Szilagyi said. “The basic evidence is there. Religion and spirituality are important to many patients. It impacts their health and how they cope with their health care experience. It’s an essential resource for them.”
One of Transforming Chaplaincy’s goals is to encourage chaplains to take their education, research and interests further. Transforming Chaplaincy supported two cohorts of chaplains in pursuit of graduate degrees in public health to advance spiritual care research. Many have later pursued PhDs. And one alum now has their own Templeton funding, while another is part of a team that has received NIH funding.
While professional pathways in chaplaincy academia and research remain rare, Rush maintains a robust program led by a team of five researchers. Szilagyi considers himself fortunate to oversee a growing program that serves as a model for the field.
“There are few places like Rush, where we are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice for the benefit of patients, families and healthcare professionals. Our work plays an important role at the intersection of health, behavior and communities,” Szilagyi said. “We are driven by the belief that these efforts create a lasting, positive impact.”
The journey continues
“We’ve demonstrated that we have longevity,” Fitchett said. “In the first 10 years, we have created the capacity for spiritual care research to expand, and that is quite exciting. That’s never existed in the field before. Now, we need to strive for more substantial resources to expand training and partnerships to build a robust national and international base for research.”
But the program is currently without an endowment, and more work is needed to train the next generation of chaplains and elevate their work through research. Philanthropic support is more important now than ever to advance Transforming Chaplaincy’s initiatives.
Transforming Chaplaincy offers a certificate of completion program that prepares current and future spiritual care managers to lead effective programs in a rapidly changing health care environment, as well as online courses in research literacy for chaplains and chaplaincy students. And its Chaplaincy Research Summer Institute provides intensive, week-long training for spiritual care practitioners and educators.
Transforming Chaplaincy aims to continue demonstrating how spiritual care benefits patients, with its core focus on palliative care, pediatrics and cancer care and an expansive research agenda to meet the needs of patients and families in an evolving health care environment.
Szilagyi hopes their work continues to shift how spiritual care is understood and practiced — by examining, strengthening and continually improving it. By investigating what chaplains do, challenging assumptions and studying how spiritual care brings about benefits, Transforming Chaplaincy aims to ensure spiritual care becomes a trusted and essential part of routine health care.
Turner considers it a privilege to celebrate 10 years of the program’s professional excellence and commitment to Rush’s mission.
“The faculty, staff and students have worked tirelessly to support the program’s research efforts and community reach,” Turner said. “Rush is proud to be the home of this movement and to celebrate 10 years of Transforming Chaplaincy. As the journey continues, we will continue to move our spiritual care research agenda forward into this new era of health care.”
