A clear center but no clear boundaries.’ The construction of professional identities in spiritual care through boundary work in participatory action research within health care

Bibliographic Data

ID6134420
AuthorsGaby Jacobs (0000-0002-5908-9017, Professor in Chaplaincy Studies, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands, corresponding author), Stefanie De Cuba (ZINZIZ, Utrecht, The Netherlands)
Year2023
Volume22
Issue2
Pages179-195
Publication date2023-08-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAction Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1476-7503 • E-ISSN: 1741-2617
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14767503231195418
OpenAlexW4386020913
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited22

Spiritual care is increasingly seen as a task of all health care professionals. This is challenging for chaplains working in health care, who hold spiritual care at the heart of their profession but don’t feel rooted in a strong professional identity. In this article we discuss a participatory action research that aimed at strengthening the professional identity of health care chaplains by forming collaborative learning communities of chaplains and general practice mental health. The focus is on the ‘boundary work’ and how participatory action research contributes to this. Relational professionalism, Dialogical Self Theory and Boundary Theory are combined to interpret the complex relational-dialogical processes of negotiating one’s identity within the relationships with diverse others: clients, mental health nurses and society. The result is a more articulated and at the same time flexible professional identity for healthcare chaplains. Participatory action research contributes to these boundary processes by stimulating reflection, explicating, eliciting or encouraging different voices and facilitating the dialogue between these professionals

Action research · Boundary-work · Citizen journalism · Dialogical self · Health care · Identity (music · Mental health · Negotiation · Participatory action research · Pedagogy · Political science · Professional boundaries · Psychotherapist · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Family and Disability Support Research · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology

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