Date of Award
9-1-1986
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Advisor
Dr. John Losak
Abstract
The various constituencies to which a Presbyterian College chaplain must be accountable have varying expectations of what roles are appropriate for chaplains to play in the educational institutions they serve. The college administration, the local Presbytery, students and chaplains themselves each have their own perceptions of the real and ideal role of the chaplain. This study sought to investigate the "Real Role and the Ideal Role” perceptions of seventy-two chaplains serving Presbyterian Church related colleges in the United States. A sample of one hundred fifty students attending Tusculum College, where the chaplain functions primarily in an academic teaching role, and a sample of one hundred fifty students attending Maryville College, where the chaplain functions primarily as a pastoral counselor, were included in the study. The students were selected by taking every third name listed in the student directory of each college for the 1985-1986 academic year. Specifically, the study sought to discover the degree of the relationship between: 1. The chaplains perceptions of their ideal role and their perceptions of the roles they actually performed. 2. The student perceptions of the ideal chaplains role and their perceptions of the role actually performed by chaplains. 3. The chaplains perceptions of their ideal roles and the students' perceptions of the ideal chaplain's role. 4. The chaplains perceptions of the roles they actually performed and the students' perceptions of the roles actually performed by chaplains. A fifty-four item questionnaire modeled after one developed by Doyle and Ennis (1981) for a study conducted with Roman Catholic Chaplains was adapted for this study. Correlation coefficients were found to measure the relationship among the chaplains' and students' perceived ideal and real role relavancy in the three major subcategories of the questionnaire which were: Worship and Pastoral Care, Pastoral Counseling and Teaching and Administrative Roles. Kendall's Tau B and C were the measures of association used to obtain the coefficients. Pearson's Correlation Coefficients were used to analyze the real and ideal perception for each subcategory in the questionnaire. Pearson' Correlation Coefficients were also used to compare status (chaplains and students) by each ideal and real role subcategory. Finally, mean scores for the ideal and real role of the chaplain by students and chaplain responding in the three subcategories of the questionnaire were found. The results of the study reported in the tables. Data collected for the study showed that chaplains' responses indicated a higher degree of relationship between the ideal and real role of the chaplain. That is, chaplains tended to show a greater consistency between ideal and real roles than did the students' perceptions of the ideal and real role of the chaplain. Chaplains tended to have higher scores than students in the real roles of Worship, Counseling, and Administrative Roles. Mean scores also indicated that chaplains scored higher than students in the real role of Counseling and Administrative Roles. It was concluded that the chaplains participating in the survey perceived that what they were actually doing as chaplains was fairly close to what they believe they should be ideally doing. Furthermore, although students responding to the survey did not perceive Chaplains doing quite what they thought their chaplain should be doing, the students' perception of what their chaplain was doing was fairly high. There were essentially no differences found in the two groups in how they perceived the ideal role of the chaplain In each of the three subcategories of the questionnaire. It was concluded that the chaplains responding to the survey did not see themselves in a role conflict. The fact that the students did not see their chaplain performing quite as adequately as the chaplains did say indicate the need for further study with students about their perceptions of the role of the chaplain. Also, the fact that both students and chaplains saw teaching as an important part of the chaplain's work may indicate that a focus in this area would strengthen campus ministry at Tusculum . A strategy was designed in order to make the role of the chaplain at Tusculum College more visible. It was recommended that the chaplain needs to communicate his functions to students through verbal as well as behavioral means. The specific strategy was to establish a Board of Directors for Campus Ministry at Tusculum which would assist in making his role more visible. Among the responsibilities of the Board were that it should: 1. Create a job description for She campus pastor/professor of religious studies that would bring him Into maximum contact with students through religious life programs and classroom teaching. 2. Mako an annual review of the chaplain's performance. 3. Raise funds so that the chaplain could develop campus-wide programs of interest to non-religiously oriented students as well as religiously oriented students (i.e.: films on social issues, retreats for students, on-campus discussion groups, and dormitory programs of interest to all students). 4. Report regularly to the Board of Trustees of Tusculum College and Holston Presbytery concerning the progress of the chaplain.