Establishing the Chaplain Role in a Primary Care Clinic Setting

In 2019, a full-time chaplain was placed in the Golden Cross Academic Clinic (GCAC), with the chaplain's focus being in the primary care internal medicine department. While research exists regarding chaplains in the inpatient setting, research regarding the presence of a full-time chaplain in a primary care setting as well as the topics patients discuss with that chaplain are limited.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Emotional Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Counseling

Detailed Description

A few studies conducted in the hospital setting have shown what topics patients typically discuss with a chaplain. In the article, "Patients and Loved Ones' Expectations of Chaplain Services. Munchausen and colleagues present that the two highest-rated services performed by chaplains were spiritual and emotional support. This study also found that patients wanted to see a chaplain for the following reasons: to be listened to, to be with in times of anxiety, to offer support to loves ones, to remind of God's care and presence, to pray, for religious rituals, to assist with the understanding of advance care planning documents, and to counsel regarding moral or ethical decisions.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 312

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Dallas, Texas, United States, 75203
      • Methodist Dallas Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patient at the GCAC who are > 18 years old

• Met with a member of the on-staff chaplaincy during a visit to GCAC

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• • Patient at the GCAC who are > 18 years old

  • Met with a member of the on-staff chaplaincy during a visit to GCAC

Exclusion Criteria:

• • Patient did not meet with a member of the on-staff chaplaincy during a visit to GCAC

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of times chaplain is requested by patient or provider	Number of request from the patients or provider for chaplain	1 year
Usefulness, feasibility, and reception of screening mechanism for GCAC staff	Develop a screening mechanism that allow GCAC staff to identify patients who could benefit from spiritual and emotional support.	1 year
Themes discussed during meeting between chaplain and patient	Explore themes from patient conversations with a chaplain	1 year
Number of meetings/conversations pertaining to each theme identified	Theme identified for the number of meetings/conservations	1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Methodist Health System
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Andrew Dowden, PhD, Methodist Midlothian Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 20, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 18, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): June 18, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 13, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 16, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): January 25, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 23, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 19, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Health Services; Health Care Facilities Workforce and Services; Community Health Services; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Mental Health Services; Counseling
• Other Study ID Numbers: 024.CHP.2022.D

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Study data or any protected health information will not be shared with anyone that is not delegated to the study. The PI is committed to disseminate research results in a timely fashion. Sharing of results generated by the data analysis during the course of the project will be through presentation at national scientific meetings and/or publication in open access journals.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: 2 years
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ANALYTIC_CODE; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No