Learning about the effectiveness of chaplaincy care for residents with more severe dementia

The focus on outcome-oriented chaplaincy research and the evaluation of structured spiritual interventions might be at odds with the complex reality of chaplains working with nursing home residents with more severe dementia. The aim of this article is to explore what knowledge can be gained through thematically analysing a case study regarding the possibilities, success and outcomes of chaplaincy care for this patient group. Results show that a chaplain’s expertise is to create a fertile ground in which ‘belonging’ can arise, described as ‘experienced connectedness through being loved and appreciated as a relational human being’. Four subdomains were formulated: ‘social connection’, ‘sense of identity’, ‘inner peace’, and ‘sources of strength’. Besides the efficaciousness found, the context of dementia care reminds us of the need for openness to receiving and appreciating the symbolic, non-verbal, odd, and unexpected, and the value of ‘interventions’ in chaplaincy that are less standardised, controllable or measurable. Future research should incorporate methods that can capture the more tactile and less tangible dimensions of chaplaincy practice.