New Publication and Webinar

Congratulations to this author team with their new open access publication, Developing Emotional Intelligence and Counseling Self-Efficacy in Clinical Pastoral Education in Healthcare Settings. The team was led by Transforming Chaplaincy (TC) Director, Csaba Szilagyi and also included, Kim Palmer, TC Research Fellow alum; Paul Galchutt, TC Assistant Director of Engagement; Kristin Langstraat, ACPE educator; and Dr. George Fitchett, TC Senior Advisor.
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This study demonstrates that CPE participants’ emotional intelligence (EI) and counseling self-efficacy (CSE) significantly increased during their clinical education. It also highlights a strong link between EI and CSE development, indicating that growth in EI contributes to increased confidence in counseling abilities. The findings support the effectiveness of CPE in fostering essential skills for spiritual care providers. We are grateful to the Foundation for ACPE for funding this project.
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Szilagyi, C., Palmer, P. K., Galchutt, P., Langstraat, K., & Fitchett, G. (2025). Developing emotional intelligence and counseling self-efficacy in clinical pastoral education in healthcare settings: a multicenter pre-post study. Frontiers in medicine, 12, 1578653. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2025.1578653

Webinar:
Developing Emotional Intelligence and Counseling Self-Efficacy in Clinical Pastoral Education
December 2, 11 AM - Noon (CT)

Transforming Chaplaincy is looking forward to co-sponsoring this webinar related to this article with ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education.

The webinar will explore the findings and implications of research examining how Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) students develop emotional intelligence and counseling self-efficacy, using a multicenter, pretest-posttest approach with validated measurements. The study tracked changes in these qualities among both CPE interns and residents, while also investigating predictive factors and their interrelationship. These results are significant for spiritual care education and chaplaincy care because they highlight CPE’s apparent effectiveness in fostering critical skills for spiritual care providers.

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The Chaplain Family Project Multicenter RCT

Dr. Alexia (Lexy) Torke and Dr. George Fitchett are pleased to announce the NIH-funded R56 Pilot study titled “The Chaplain Family Project Multicenter RCT.” Transforming Chaplaincy Research Fellow graduate, Shelley Varner-Perez, MPH, MDiv, BCC, will also have a key leadership role. The one-year pilot project will involve chaplains and/or clinician-scientists from Indiana University Health, Rush University, University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) Health, Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health (AWFBH), and University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB). As a randomized pilot trial, the study will compare chaplaincy care for family surrogates in adult ICUs compared to another supportive ICU intervention. The findings will inform future studies, including a proposed larger, multicenter clinical trial of chaplaincy care for ICU families.

New John Templeton Foundation Grant

Congratulations to Dr. Tim Usset, Transforming Chaplaincy research fellow alum, and Dr. Sophia Fantus at the University of Texas at Arlington, for their new grant that will help researchers explore the use of spiritual care in the Veterans Health Administration.

Our Next Course

Research Literacy 101
January 14 - February 11 (Save the Dates)

If you have ever wondered about whether a specific intervention or spiritual assessment has an evidence base supporting it and if it does, how good are those findings, Transforming Chaplaincy can help.

Since 2019, our Research Literacy 101 course has been crafted toward practicing the skills for locating, evaluating, and summarizing the evidence relevant to your work.

Please watch this space for more details.

Webinar

Chaplains Investigate Their Practice.
Dutch Case Studies Project.
Tuesday, December 9, 12-1:15 PM (CT)

Those who attended the Association of Professional Chaplains annual conference in June in Minnesota were treated to a positively memorable event with Dr. Walton's plenary. Transforming Chaplaincy is excited to announce that he will deliver this significant message again for this webinar.

In a four year project 60 chaplains in the Netherlands wrote 101 case studies and reviewed them in research communities with academic researchers. The presentation will discuss how working with case studies not only led to a description of what chaplains do and why, their repertoire, but also to a stronger sense of professional identity and a shared profession.

Webinar Journal Club 15
Five-Part Series ---Sacred Sparks: How Chaplains Ignite Healing in Patients, Clinicians and Themselves

Transforming Chaplaincy and the Association of Professional Chaplains are partnering together again for their 15th year of Webinar Journnal Club (WJC). WJC provides in-depth readings and discussion of research relevant to chaplains in clinical healthcare. Over five sessions, hosts, Dr. Beth Muehlhausen and John Betz, and guests from diverse demographics and viewpoints explore recent research that highlights how chaplains ignite sacred sparks of meaning and healing across diverse contexts—patients, adolescents, clinicians, and chaplains themselves. Each session focuses on one article, with guided discussion about how findings inform and strengthen chaplaincy practice.

By registering, you will receive a recording for each session.

February 10 | April 14 | June 23 | September 22 | November 10

Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum (ISPEC)

The ISPEC™ Training Course is gaining momentum among healthcare professionals worldwide. The next ISPEC™ Training Course is scheduled for January 29 and 30, 2026. For more information. Applications are opening soon.

Telechaplaincy Community of Practice
​Upcoming Meetings

Integrating Virtual Spiritual Care Across the Cancer Care Continuum
​with Rev. James Adams​
Friday, November 21, 12-1 PM ET (6-7 PM CEST)

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Baylor Scott and White Health Digital Spiritual Care Team: Expanding Customer Access by Expanding Options
​with Dan Roberts, MDiv, BCC &
Curtisha Grant, MDiv, PBCC​
Friday, December 5, 12-1 PM ET (6-7 PM CEST)

Supporting Partnership Opportunities

If you are interested in discussing supporting partnership opportunities with Transforming Chaplaincy, please contact Cate Beaulieu-Desjardins, TC's Assistant Director of Research Development, at caitlin_m_desjardins@rush.edu.

To Support Transforming Chaplaincy

Thank you for engaging with Transforming Chaplaincy as we work together to advance spiritual care through research. We value your support, whether you are a part of one of our research networks, attend webinars, or are on a research team. Please also consider contributing financially by clicking the button below.

Missed a Webinar?

If you were not available to tune into a Transforming Chaplaincy (TC) live broadcast or perhaps you want to see a specific webinar again, check out TC's YouTube channel. Many of you (1.65K) are already TC YouTube channel subscribers and know how this works. When you subscribe, you receive a notification that a new recording is ready for your viewing along with 110+ of our videos. Thank you for whenever you engage TC's content to advance spiritual care through research. Transforming Chaplaincy’s YouTube channel.

​Transforming Chaplaincy: Advancing Spiritual Care Through Research​
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​Vision: We envision a future when chaplaincy is formed, informed, and transformed by evidence-based practice
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​Mission: The mission of Transforming Chaplaincy is to promote evidence-based spiritual care and integrate research into professional practice and education by fostering a culture of inquiry

Our mailing address is:​
Transforming Chaplaincy
Rush University Medical Center
Department of Religion, Health, and Human Values
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