Leading in Context: The lived experiences of spiritual care leaders

Abstract

This dissertation was designed to explore the leadership experiences of spiritual care leaders in Catholic Healthcare. Both healthcare and spiritual care continue to evolve prompting spiritual care leaders to consider their leadership approaches as they strive to remain relevant and effective. Given the apparent limited literature available in the area, an interpretative phenomenological approach was used to learn about the meaning participants make of their experiences. The aim of the study was to begin to provide empirically derive evidence that will contribute to the audience’s understanding of spiritual care leadership.|The findings suggested social processes such as relationships are significant in the leadership experience of these leader. The two main themes identified were belonging and being transformational. Belonging involved a supportive and inclusive environment, Catholic identity, and feeling valued and supported, while being transformational included feeling strategic, acting as an advocate, being supportive, and being resilient. These two themes seemed to point to the social process between these leaders and their employees, and the leaders and their own supervisors. They could help determining key aspects needed in establishing and maintaining quality relationships that support a culture of growth and development which is an important aspect of the leadership experience. Future research should expand on this topic to understand which behaviors leaders display to develop these quality relationships. This will ultimately contribute to the development of best practices for spiritual care leadership.|Keywords: Phenomenology, leadership, dissertation