Spirituality and Palliative Care - Coming Challenges

Caritas et Veritas

Journal of religion and health, 2017

This article considers the role and the practices of spiritual care in hospices. While spiritual care was firmly established as one of the four pillars of practical hospice care alongside medical, psychological and social care by Cicely Saunders, the importance and functions of spiritual care in daily practice remain arguable. When speaking about spirituality, what are we actually speaking about? What form do the spiritual relations take between full-time staff and volunteers on the one hand, and the patients and their family members on the other? These were central questions of a qualitative study that we carried out in four hospices in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, to explore how spiritual care is provided in hospices and what significance spirituality has in hospices. The study shows that the advantages of a broader definition of spirituality lie in "spiritual care" no longer being bound to one single profession, namely that of the chaplain. It also opens the way for...

2017

Objective: The aim of our research was to determine the current situation at Praguean hospitals and hospitals of the Central Bohemia Region regarding the replenishing of spiritual needs in patients with infaust (unfavorable) prognosis. Design: Pilot study. Original Article 80 Clinical Social Work and Health Intervention Clinical Social Work and Health Intervention Vol. 8 No. 4 2017 Introduction The multi-dimensional constitution of humans includes also spirituality. Replenishing their spiritual needs is at high demand in different kinds of personal struggles especially in patients with infaust prognosis. It is found, that many people experience spirituality as an important support aid while trying to cope with a chronic or life-threatening disease (1). Palliative Medicine should not only be used to suppress physical pain, but also discomfort, anxiety, and other disease-related problems. Individually perceived loss of personal dignity; sense of life or hope can be reasons for giving ...

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021

Spirituality is the most unknown aspect of palliative care despite being the need that is most altered in the last moments of life. Objective. To identify on the one hand the spiritual needs of patients who are at the end of life and on the other hand, the way in which nursing professionals can work to provide effective accompaniment in this process. Method. A qualitative study was conducted which applied different data collection techniques. This was done to describe the phenomenon from a holistic perspective in relation to experts’ perceptions of the competencies required by health professionals and palliative patients’ spiritual needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted within both populations. In order to analyze the qualitative data collected through interviews, discourse was analyzed according to the Taylor–Bodgan model and processed using Atlas.ti software. Results. Three well-differentiated lines of argument are extracted from the discourse in each of the groups, on t...

European Journal of Social Sciences

In recent years there has been talk of “Palliative care”, an interdisciplinary approach of care, which focuses on supporting and relieving patients and their family environment in progressive and life-threatening illnesses. Its aim is to provide optimal comfort and quality of life, maintain hope and family cohesion despite the possibility of death and generally support patients and their families in the stages of pain, illness and mourning. The theological approach of palliative care, with the opening of new horizons of view of pain and illness and their management with the help of faith, are challenges for the age of human omnipotence. The factors “spirituality” and “religiosity” have begun in recent years to be taken into account in the multitude of biological, psychological and spiritual factors that affect the body’s psychosomatic response to illness and treatment. In the present study, we are trying to explore the influence of religious faith in the management of physical, psyc...

Hospice and Palliative Medicine International Journal, 2017

Palliative Medicine, 2002

Revista Bioética

The development of the care plan for patients under palliative care must be unique and comprehensive, seeking to meet, as far as possible, the patient’s needs. Within this plan, the spiritual and religious axis stands out. To analyze the importance of this type of approach, we carried out an integrative review study. The articles analyzed should answer the guiding question “what does the literature say about spirituality and religiosity in the approach to patients under palliative care?”. The sample comprised 15 articles that show the multidisciplinary nature of the theme and point out the benefits of combining the spiritual and religious axis with care plans. We observed, however, that some practices and religious aspects can negatively influence the individual and the professional team feels unprepared to address and develop this issue with its patients.