Socio-Cultural Aspects of the Development of Contemporary Clinical Pastoral Care in Estonia: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The current paper addresses the societal context of clinical pastoral care in Estonia, aiming to provide proposals for organizing the practice and education of clinical pastoral caregivers. The purpose is to identify the societal factors and to analyse the corresponding aspects of the development of contemporary clinical pastoral care in Estonia. Data originates from the Statistics Estonia database (2010–2015), related studies of the Estonian population and public information about Estonian health care institutions. Societal factors are identified as follows: (a) issues connected to patients’ psychosocial and material coping, (b) ethnic groups, spoken languages, (c) secularism and religious diversity. The proposed development of clinical pastoral care in Estonia would concentrate on: (a) interdisciplinarity in education and practice, (b) knowledge in cultural traditions, language skills, (c) finding the common ground for supporting the patients in secularism and religious diversity. Suggestions may also apply and contribute to the discussion in other countries with similar societal characteristics.