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This article shifts the traditional approach to case studies in healthcare chaplaincy from questions about what chaplains do to questions of who chaplains are and how they experience the work. We draw insights from womanist theology to offer three narratives written by African American healthcare chaplains that illustrate themes of intersectionality, the effects interview contexts have on training and work, and key questions that emerge while doing the work. These narratives honor the largely invisible work of African-American chaplains while raising central hypotheses for research and intervention we outline in conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing U.S. demographics and the growing emphasis on diversity in the healthcare workforce requires professional healthcare chaplains to examine the characteristics of its own workforce. Previous research suggested that chaplains were mainly Caucasian/White and Mainline Protestant. To explore further, this paper presents a baseline sketch of the workforce and identifies important differences among board-certified chaplains (BCCs), certified educators, certified educator candidates (CECs), and clinical pastoral education (CPE) students. Although missing data quickly became the central story of the analysis and thus requires caution in comparison, the preliminary results suggest BCCs and Certified Educators are older and Whiter/more Caucasian than CECs and CPE students. At least one-third of chaplains and Certified Educators identify as Mainline Protestant, but students and CECs reported greater variation in religious affiliation. Chaplains may be similar to users of healthcare and hospitalized persons in terms of gender and race/ethnicity. Recommendations include suggestions for improving the data infrastructure of professional chaplaincy organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]