Meeting Patients Where They’re @: Chaplains’ Reflections on Online Spiritual Care Communities

Every year, millions of people in distress turn to large, anonymous online communities for support. Dr. Estelle Smith discussed emerging results from a Templeton-funded study investigating chaplains’ perceptions of these communities, prospective roles for chaplaincy professionals or lay users within them, and how we might intentionally design future online communities–either within or beyond clinical affiliations–for better safety, efficacy, and care.