A hybrid approach to spiritual care: The impact of social media in pastoral care spaces

Abstract

Spiritual care refers to the care provided by religious leaders (chaplains, pastors or ministers), social workers and other counsellors. It reinforces one’s understanding of one’s beliefs in a moment of a crisis. One’s spirituality will always influence one’s journey towards healing. Spiritual care calls for an understanding of the holistic pastoral care that seeks to promote the individual’s and also a group’s welfare by attending to their socio-economic and spiritual matters of concern. Traditionally, spiritual care was only done through contact sessions in pastoral care spaces such as church meetings, hospitals, prisons, and workplaces. This approach refers to the notion that unless one travels to a meeting point, one will not provide or receive spiritual care as desired. With the advent of technology and digital and social media platforms that form our daily lives, spiritual care should be transformed to hybrid approaches, as social media platforms are used in family life, health spaces, business, and workplaces. Social media has become a valuable tool that is unavoidable in pastoral care spaces. The synergy between the physical contact approach and digital platforms increases the capacity of reaching out in providing spiritual care services. This desktop study aims at understanding the role and impact of the social media in spiritual care when used together with the traditional contact approaches. The article utilised literature reviews on spiritual care in general and the use of social media in pastoral care to arrive at its conclusions. It discusses the implications of using social media in pastoral care. This study thus seeks to enhance the hypothesis that social media can neither be ignored nor left out in spiritual care and related issues.

Keywords

• hybrid
• spirituality
• spiritual care
• pastoral care
• social media
• online