Jason Hotchkiss, Ed.D.

Jason Hotchkiss, EdD, MDiv, BCC, is a Canadian-born psychologist, educator, chaplain, and researcher whose work spans more than three decades across higher education, clinical assessment, spiritual care, and applied well-being research. His scholarship and teaching focus on resilience, mindful self-care, professional quality of life, sustainable helping practices, and the integration of artificial intelligence into education and healthcare systems.

He earned a Doctorate of Education in Psychology in 2014, following interdisciplinary training that included a Master of Divinity in Pastoral Counseling, Clinical Pastoral Education, and pastoral ordination. His professional path has integrated psychological science, spiritual formation, and educational leadership. He has served as psychology faculty and researcher at Cornerstone University and currently teaches The Psychology of Happiness at San Francisco Bay University, where he helps students apply positive psychology research to practical, evidence-based habits.

In recent years, Dr. Hotchkiss has explored the role of artificial intelligence in higher education, hospice care, and healthcare quality systems. Drawing from more than a decade of hospice and palliative care experience, his work examines how AI may support service quality, clinician workflow, educational innovation, and compassionate systems of care while also raising important ethical and human-centered questions. He has also developed AI-supported university coursework and teaching models that integrate large language models, experiential learning, and evidence-based pedagogy to enhance student engagement and workforce readiness.

He has published four books and more than 20 peer-reviewed articles. His recent scholarly work centers on mindful self-care and burnout prevention. He led the intercultural validation of the Mindful Self-Care Scale and the development and validation of the Mindful Self-Care Scale 2.0, with multiple large-scale studies published in the journal Mindfulness.

Outside of academic work, Dr. Hotchkiss enjoys daily exercise, mindfulness practice, Christian spirituality, swimming, and spiritual cinema.

Degree & Academic Institution:

• Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology
  Argosy University, Alameda, CA
• M.Div. in Pastoral Counseling
  Mill Valley, CA

Courses Taught:

• Psychology of Happiness, Introduction of Psychology

Publications:

Books

• Hotchkiss, J. T. (2026). Mindful Helping and Self-Care: Practical, Evidence-Based Guidance for Personal and Professional Resilience, Amazon Kindle Direct. https://a.co/d/06twpo2H
• Hotchkiss, J. T. (2023). Love Letters from Caregivers: Grateful Testimonies to Inspire and Empower Hospice and Palliative Care Professionals. Alive-and-Well in End-of-Life Care series 3 of 3, Amazon Kindle Direct. https://a.co/d/2fqIGK0
• Hotchkiss, J. T. (2023). Vivid Depictions of Big Hospice Quality: User Insights and Recommendations for the 50 Largest Hospices in the United States. Alive-and-Well in End-of-Life Care series 2 of 3, Amazon Kindle Direct. https://a.co/d/0bwcVjbw
• Hotchkiss, J. T. (2023). Glassdoor into Hospice Quality in America: Caregiver sentiments, evidence-based insights for improved CAHPS performance. Alive-and-Well in End-of-Life Care series 1 of 3, Amazon Kindle Direct. https://a.co/d/00s2Jo4l
• Research
• Cook-Cottone, C.P., Hotchkiss, J.T., Guyker, W., Wong, M.Y.C. (2025) Development and Interethnic Validation of the Mindful Self-Care Scale, Version 2.0—Eight Mindful Self-Care Factors and Their Relationship to Present Moment-Centeredness. Mindfulness 16, 3043–3068 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-025-02670-0
• Wong, M.Y.C., Hotchkiss, J.T., Garcia, A.C.M., Cook-Cottone, C.P., Guyker, W. (2024) Mindful Self-Care Practices Around the World—Score Reporting and Rasch Modeling of Mindful Self-Care Factors Among 13 Regions and Across 102 Countries. Mindfulness 15, 1603–1620 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-024-02386-7
• Hotchkiss, J. T., Ridderman, E., Hotchkiss, B. T. (2024). How Enrollees Feel about Support in Big Hospices—Caregiver sentiments on psychosocial-spiritual support among large US programs. Palliative & supportive care. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478951524000506
• Hotchkiss, J. T., Ridderman, E., Bufkin, W. (2024). Development of a model and method for hospice quality assessment from natural language processing (NLP) analysis of online caregiver reviews. Palliative & supportive care, 22(1):19-30. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478951523001001
• Hotchkiss, J. T., Ridderman, E., Hotchkiss, B. T. (2023). Caregiver and Employee Experience among Big Hospices—Ranking of the Largest US Hospices by Three Quality Indicators. The American journal of hospice & palliative care, https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091231206481
• Hotchkiss, J. T., & Wong, M. Y. C. (2022). Factorial Structure of the ProQOL—Systematic Meta-analysis and Integration of 27 International Factor Analysis Studies. Trends in Psychology.
• Hotchkiss, J. T. (2021). The Relationship Between Sexual Compulsivity, Emotional and Spiritual Distress of Religious Internet Pornography Users. Journal of Religion and Health. 60(3), 1630.
• Hotchkiss, J. T., Cook-Cottone, C. P. (2019). Validation of the Mindful Self-Care Scale (MSCS) and development of the Brief-MSCS among hospice and spiritual care professionals: a confirmatory factor analysis approach to validation. Palliative and Supportive Care, Cambridge Press.
• Hotchkiss, J. T., & Lesher, R. (2018). Factors Predicting Burnout Among Chaplains: Compassion Satisfaction, Organizational Factors, and the Mediators of Mindful Self-Care and Secondary Traumatic Stress. Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, 72(2), 86-98.
• Hotchkiss, J. T. (2018). Mindful Self-Care and Secondary Traumatic Stress Mediate a Relationship Between Compassion Satisfaction and Burnout Risk Among Hospice Care Professionals. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
• Hotchkiss, J. T. (2014). The relationship between subjective well-being of adults seeking pornography addiction assessment. (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No: 3469875)