Military Perspectives on the Provision of Spiritual Care in the Australian Defence Force: A Cross-Sectional Study.

A module to explore perspectives on chaplaincy services was included in an online enterprise survey randomly distributed to members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) during 2021. Up to eight questions were answered by 2783 active military personnel relating to their perception of chaplain activities and the impact of chaplaincy services. Of those military participants answering the question on religious status (n = 1116), a total of 71.6% (n = 799) of respondents identified as non-religious while 28.4% (n = 317) identified as holding a religious affiliation. Approximately 44.2% (n = 1230) of participants had sought support from a chaplain, of which 85.3% (n = 1049) found chaplaincy care to be satisfactory or very satisfactory. While the data suggest there is a lack of clarity around the multiple roles undertaken by chaplaincy, nevertheless respondents were just as likely to prefer chaplains for personal support (24.0%), as they were to seek help from non-chaplaincy personnel such as a non-ADF counsellor (23.2%), their workplace supervisor (23.1%) or a psychologist (21.8%). This evidence affirms that the spiritual care provided by military chaplaincy remains one of several preferred choices and thus a valued part of the holistic care provided by the ADF to support the health and wellbeing of its members.

The Impact of Faith-Based Pastoral Care in Decreasingly Religious Contexts: The Australian Chaplaincy Advantage in Critical Environments.

This article considers the contribution of faith-based chaplains who provide holistic pastoral and spiritual care within critical environments such as the military, first responders, and hospitals. The contribution of faith-based chaplains can sometimes be taken for granted or not properly understood, particularly in some Western countries which are currently experiencing a decline in religiosity. Following on from a previous paper regarding chaplaincy utilization (Layson et al. 2022), this article presents an alternative argument to the secularist-humanist perspective by noting five ways by which the faith based chaplaincy model provides best practice service and builds a capability advantage for organizations that engage faith-based chaplaincy services. The first section discusses faith-based chaplaincy and organizational holistic care; the second section considers the role of faith-based chaplains-much of which is largely unknown and poorly appreciated; the third section considers the unique capability of faith-based chaplains to provide spiritual and religious care to those of faith and for those of none; the fourth section explores how faith-based chaplains can leverage the positive impact of religious organizations to provide additional low-cost resources for other organizations and their staff; and lastly, the operational advantage of faith-based chaplains on the world stage is considered, particularly in light of culturally and linguistically diverse populations to whom religiosity is increasingly important.

Repentance as Rebuke: Betrayal and Moral Injury in Safety Engineering.

Following other contributions about the MAX accidents to this journal, this paper explores the role of betrayal and moral injury in safety engineering related to the U.S. federal regulator's role in approving the Boeing 737MAX-a plane involved in two crashes that together killed 346 people. It discusses the tension between humility and hubris when engineers are faced with complex systems that create ambiguity, uncertain judgements, and equivocal test results from unstructured situations. It considers the relationship between moral injury, principled outrage and rebuke when the technology ends up involved in disasters. It examines the corporate backdrop against which calls for enhanced employee voice are typically made, and argues that when engineers need to rely on various protections and moral inducements to 'speak up,' then the ethical essence of engineering-skepticism, testing, checking, and questioning-has already failed.

Factors Influencing Military Personnel Utilizing Chaplains: A Literature Scoping Review.

Chaplains have been embedded in military settings for over a millennium. In recent years however, the decline in spiritual/religious (S/R) affiliation of military personnel across Western cultures has led to some commentators questioning the utilization of religious chaplains by defence personnel. This scoping review maps the literature on S/R and non-S/R factors that influence utilizing military chaplains-with a particular emphasis on the Australian military context. A systematic scoping review of tertiary literature databases using Arksey and O'Malley (2003) and Joanna Briggs Institute methodologies (JBI, 2021), revealed a total of 33 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. Results fell into three broad categories: (i) how personal religious views influence utilization of military chaplaincy, (ii) barriers and enablers to personnel utilizing military chaplains, and (iii) the impact of chaplaincy. Despite the current reduction in religiosity in Western society, findings from this scoping review suggest there is little evidence that low religiosity among military personnel forms a significant barrier to utilizing chaplaincy services. To the contrary, the literature revealed that chaplains provide trusted, confidential, and holistic support for military personnel that if diminished or compromised would leave a substantial gap in staff well-being services.