Abstract
As more hospitals acknowledge the importance of spiritual care, there is an increasing demand for chaplains who can meet patients' spiritual needs. While most empirical studies thus far have focused on changes in chaplaincy services, and on the role of non-Muslim chaplains, very few have addressed the religious diversity among hospital chaplains and their roles in serving a diverse population. This study will be the first to examine the roles Muslim chaplains play in New York City hospitals and health care settings in general, and in serving Muslim patients in particular, as perceived by pastoral care directors and both Muslim and non-Muslim chaplains. This study used a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative, including a cross-sectional survey administered to 56 pastoral care directors and in-depth interviews with 33 Muslim and non-Muslim chaplains. Univariate and bivariate statistical analysis were used to analyze the quantitative data and a grounded thematic approach was employed to analyze the qualitative data. Results show that seven roles examined in this study were rated by most directors as being somewhat important to moderately important. The highest perceived importance mean given to Muslim chaplains' roles were handling directive education and organ donation (mean = 3.49, SD 1.95), prayers (mean = 3.14, SD = 1.37), and providing emotional support to patients and their families (mean = 3.13, SD= 1.35). The perceived roles and activities are also different based on the location of the hospitals, the educational level of the directors, and faith affiliation of the directors and chaplains. The implication of this study is that addressing the cultural, racial, and ethnic disparities in health care settings, including chaplaincy services, is an important factor that could seriously impact health beliefs and behaviors.