Edinburgh Napier University

  Around the world, chaplains provide specialist spiritual care for
people with complex healthcare needs. If the nature of chaplain
interventions was better understood then multidisciplinary
colleagues could both improve their own skills in spiritual care
and better understand when to refer people to chaplains. A
survey was constructed to establish what aspects of the chaplain/
patient relationship were most important for patients in Scotland
and Australia. Outcomes were measured with the Scottish Patient
Reported Outcome Measure (Scottish PROM©). Results from 610
respondents showed the strongest correlation was between ‘being
able to talk about what is on my mind’ and the Scottish PROM
(rs(452) = .451, p < .0005). ‘Being able to talk about what is on my
mind’ proved more important than being listened to, having faith/
beliefs valued, or being understood. Given the importance placed
on listening and understanding by clinicians, this original and
counterintuitive finding goes some way to explaining the unique
role and function of healthcare chaplaincy.