How does the American public interact with chaplains? Evidence from a national survey

Abstract

How does the American public understand the term chaplain? What fraction interact with chaplains and in what settings? What is the content of those interactions and do care recipients find them valuable? We answer these questions with data from a nationally representative survey (N = 1096) conducted in March 2022 and interviews with a subset (N = 50) of survey recipients who interacted with chaplains. We find that people in the United States do not have a consistent understanding of the term chaplain. Based on our definition, at least 18% of Americans have interacted with a chaplain. Among those who interacted with a chaplain as defined in the survey, the majority did so through healthcare organizations. Care recipients include people who were ill and their visitors/caregivers. The most common types of support received were prayer, listening and comfort. Overall, survey respondents found chaplains to be moderately or very valuable.