title: Educating chaplains for research literacy: results of a national survey of clinical pastoral education residency programs.
abstract: There is growing evidence that leaders in professional health care chaplaincy recognize the important role of research. The Standards of Practice recently approved by the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC), and especially the standard about research (Standard 12), provide strong evidence that the profession sees research, and research-literate chaplains, as important for its future. The aim of this study was to identify the extent to which Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc (ACPE) accredited clinical pastoral education (CPE) residency programs are preparing their graduates to be the kind of research-literate chaplains described in these Standards. We interviewed CPE supervisors from 26 randomly-selected CPE residency programs. We found 12% of the programs had intentional and substantive research-related curricula, 27% of the programs offered some limited exposure to research, and 62% of the programs provided no education about research. We found also that supervisors often defined "research education" in terms of actually conducting research projects. CPE residency programs potentially play a central role in educating research-literate chaplains. Future research should examine the incentives and barriers that influence the inclusion of research education in CPE residency programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Religion, Health and Human Values, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA. george_fitchett@rush.edu
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fitchett
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tartaglia
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dodd-McCue
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002604:Chaplaincy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002977:Clergy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004517:Education, Professional / Q000458:organization & administration*; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006801:Humans; D010327:Pastoral Care / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D024382:Professional Role; D014481:United States