User engagement in the context of digital spiritual care platforms

Many people struggle with questions related to the meaning of life and have a need for spiritual guidance. In the Netherlands, this guidance was, up until 2019, only available in intramural health care organizations, such as hospitals, but now people can receive spiritual care at home through digital platforms. For a platform’s performance and effectiveness, user engagement is important and therefore, this research studies user engagement in the context of digital spiritual care platforms. A qualitative case study was performed including interviews that were transcribed and analysed. Findings show that the novelty of digital platforms that offer spiritual care at home causes a great satisfaction among users. Furthermore, it was found that control, PR and findability, feedback of users, and cocreating value are important factors of user engagement in the context of spiritual care. The study suggests that literature on user engagement in non-profit organisations could be refined.