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The conversing military chaplain: time allocation, task salience, and competencies among Swedish military chaplains
Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7327-8519
2026 (English)In: Frontiers in Psychiatry, E-ISSN 1664-0640, Vol. 17, article id 1816636Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Military chaplaincy is an established yet multifaceted practice within military organizations and is exposed to particular stressors such as the use of violence, ethical dilemmas, loss, and existential vulnerability. This study examines how a Swedish normative framework for Military Soul Care (ACCES: advisory role, command and crisis support, ceremonies, education, and soul care conversations) interacts with Swedish military chaplains’ own experiences of what they perceive as most important and meaningful in their mission. The empirical material consists of qualitative questionnaire data collected in 2025 from 50 military chaplains. The material was analyzed using an abductive approach and organized thematically. The results show that conversations constitute the task to which the greatest amount of time is devoted across both main categories of military chaplains, and that conversations are understood broadly, ranging from informal everyday interactions to confidential individual soul care conversations. Various forms of ceremonies and crisis support related to death and grief were experienced as particularly meaningful and reflect a clearly articulated priestly identity. Educational tasks varied between categories, with time constraints and organizational priorities limiting opportunities depending on context. A central finding is that presence within the organization, aimed at building relationships and trust, emerges as a decisive prerequisite and contributes to many chaplains working beyond their contracted hours. The importance of presence is not explicitly articulated in the ACCES framework but rather permeates the mission implicitly. Against the backdrop of a changed security environment, the findings illustrate that ecclesial priestly competencies related to crisis response, death, grief, and funeral expertise constitute a particularly vital resource in situations of crisis and war.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Frontiers Media S.A., 2026. Vol. 17, article id 1816636
Keywords [en]
competencies, military Chaplains, military soul care, moral injury, pastoral care, spiritual care
National Category
Sociology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-252073DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1816636ISI: 001752523600001PubMedID: 42064158Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105040763462OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-252073DiVA, id: diva2:2053037
Funder
Swedish Armed ForcesAvailable from: 2026-04-15 Created: 2026-04-15 Last updated: 2026-06-16Bibliographically approved

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Grimell, Jan

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf