Revisiting Emotions in Pastoral Care and Counseling: A Scoping Review

Abstract

The aims of this scoping review were to generate an overview of the existing literature on the role emotions play in pastoral care, to determine what research has been done, and to consider how this knowledge is being applied in pastoral care and counseling. Four databases (Atla Religion Database [Atla RDB], Medline Ovid, PsycINFO Ovid, and Education Resources Information Center [ERIC]) were researched for studies exploring emotions in pastoral care and counseling. Forty-six empirical studies published over a period of 10 years (2010–2021) were included in the scoping review. The authors read and analyzed the articles with a focus on how individuals experience emotions and on how the articles addressed emotions in their studies. Based upon the results of thematic analysis, we identified five themes: (1) aiming for a new PCC praxis, (2) the two main types of pastoral care, (3) a focus on basic emotions, (4) changing emotions in pastoral care, and (5) the development of creative methodologies to approach emotions within PCC. To date, there has been little research in this field regarding connecting conceptualizations and strategies to address emotions in the context of pastoral care. This scoping review addresses this issue and highlights the need for future studies and practical applications.