scholarly journals The Catalogue of Spiritual Care Instruments: A Scoping Review

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 252
Author(s):  
Ricko Damberg Nissen ◽  
Erik Falkø ◽  
Dorte Toudal Viftrup ◽  
Elisabeth Assing Hvidt ◽  
Jens Søndergaard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Healthcare Research ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Cultural Validity ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Further Development

Spiritual care has been a growing focus in international healthcare research over the last decades. The approaches to spiritual care are many and derive from many different medical fields and different cultural contexts and often remain unknown across healthcare areas. This points to a potential knowledge gap between existing instruments and the knowledge and use of them cross-disciplinarily and cross-culturally, and thus best practice insights are not sufficiently shared. This article contributes to the growing field of spiritual care by providing an overview of the various approaches (henceforth instruments) to assess patients’ spiritual needs in view of improving spiritual care. This was done through a scoping review method. The results of the review were collected and catalogued and presented here as ‘The Catalogue of Spiritual Care Instruments’. The included instruments derive from a wide range of geographical contexts and healthcare areas and are aimed at patients and healthcare professionals alike, clearly showing that spiritual care is a focus in healthcare internationally. However, it also shows the difficulties of defining spiritual care, the importance of local contexts, and the difficulties of cross-cultural validity. The catalogue contains 182 entries and is available as an interactive platform for the further development of spiritual care internationally.

scholarly journals Verbalizing spiritual needs in palliative care: a qualitative interview study on verbal and non-verbal communication in two Danish hospices

2022 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Stage Voetmann ◽  
Niels Christian Hvidt ◽  
Dorte Toudal Viftrup
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Professional ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Verbal Communication ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Spiritual Nature ◽  
Spiritual Communication ◽  
The Way

AbstractDenmark is considered one of the World’s most secular societies, and spiritual matters are rarely verbalized in public. Patients report that their spiritual needs are not cared for sufficiently. For studying spiritual care and communication, twelve patients admitted to two Danish hospices were interviewed. Verbal and non-verbal communication between patients and healthcare professionals were identified and analysed. Methodically, the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used, and the findings were discussed through the lenses of existential psychology as well as philosophy and theory of caring sciences. Three themes were identified: 1. When death becomes present, 2. Direction of the initiative, and 3. Bodily presence and non-verbal communication. The encounter between patient and healthcare professional is greatly influenced by sensing, decoding, and interpretation. A perceived connection between the patient and the healthcare professional is of great importance as to how the patient experiences the relationship with the healthcare professional.The patient’s perception and the patient’s bodily experience of the healthcare professional are crucial to whether the patient opens up to the healthcare professional about thoughts and needs of a spiritual nature and initiates a conversation hereabout. In this way we found three dynamically connected movements toward spiritual care: 1. From secular to spiritual aspects of care 2. From bodily, sensory to verbal aspects of spiritual care and 3. From biomedical to spiritual communication and care. Thus, the non-verbal dimension becomes a prerequisite for the verbal dimension of spiritual communication to develop and unfold. The behaviour of the healthcare professionals, characterised by the way they move physically and the way they touch the patient, was found to be just as important as verbal conversation when it comes to spiritual care. The healthcare professional can create a connection to the patient through bodily and relational presence. Furthermore, the healthcare professionals should let their sensing and impressions guide them when meeting the patient in dialog about matters of a spiritual nature. Their perception of the patient and non-verbal communication are a prerequisite for being able to meet patient’s spiritual needs with care and verbal communication.

scholarly journals The Spiritual Needs Questionnaire in Research and Clinical Application: a Summary of Findings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arndt Büssing
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Application ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Reliable Instrument ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Standardized Measure ◽  
Spiritual Struggles ◽  
Healthy Persons

AbstractTo provide spiritual care, an assessment and documentation of patients´ spiritual struggles and/or their spiritual needs is required to initiate appropriate support planning processes. For that purpose, the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ) was developed in 2009 as an easy to apply standardized measure. The tool has so far been translated into numerous languages and is widely used as a valid and reliable instrument to assess a wide range of spiritual needs of patients with chronic diseases, elderly, adolescents, and healthy persons. Its four main factors address Religious needs, Existential needs, Inner Peace needs, and Giving/Generativity needs. Here, the main findings are summarized and discussed.

scholarly journals Spiritual Care Charting/Documenting/Recording/Assessment: A Perspective from the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-116
Author(s):  
Linda Ross ◽  
Wilfred McSherry
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Uk

Abstract This chapter explores how spiritual aspects of care are being documented within the UK with a specific focus on healthcare primarily in the nursing and chaplaincy professions. This has not been an easy undertaking given the lack of a standardised approach, the changing and challenging landscape of healthcare in the UK and the conflicting terminology used when trying to assess, capture and record encounters, interactions and conversations with patients and their carers about their spiritual needs. The authors draw upon their own research and informal enquiries with chaplains from across England, Scotland and Wales, demonstrating that there is a wide range and variation in practice. The authors conclude that there is no standardised means of assessing and documenting spiritual needs and care in the UK and that this is unlikely to change until the many complex challenges outlined are addressed both politically and professionally.

scholarly journals The Process of Spiritual Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricko Damberg Nissen ◽  
Dorte Toudal Viftrup ◽  
Niels Christian Hvidt
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
International Development ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Treatment Plan ◽  
Healthcare Research ◽  
World Health ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
The Individual

The aim of this article is to illustrate and outline an understanding of spiritual care as a process involving a number of organically linked phases: (1) the identification of spiritual needs and resources, (2) understanding the patient’s specific needs, (3) developing the individual spiritual care treatment plan, hereunder involving the relevant healthcare/spiritual care professionals, (4) the provision of spiritual care, and (5) evaluating the spiritual care provided. The focus on spiritual care in healthcare research has increased throughout the past decades, showing that existential, spiritual, and/or religious considerations and needs increase with life-threatening illness, that these needs intensify with the severity of disease and with the prospect of death. Furthermore, research has shown that spiritual care increases quality of life, but also that failing to provide spiritual care leads to increased chance of depression and lowered health conditions. The World Health Organization accordingly emphasizes that providing spiritual care is vital for enhancing quality-of-life. Looking at spiritual care as a process suggests that working within a defined conceptual framework for providing spiritual care, is a recommendable default position for any institution where spiritual care is part of the daily work and routines. This so, especially because looking at spiritual care as a process highlights that moving from identifying spiritual needs in a patient to the actual provision of spiritual care, involves deliberate and considered actions and interventions that take into account the specific cultural and ontological grounding of the patient as well as the appropriate persons to provide the spiritual care. By presenting spiritual care as a process, we hope to inspire and to contribute to the international development of spiritual care, by enabling sharing experiences and best-practices internationally and cross-culturally. This so to better approach the practical and daily dimensions of spiritual care, to better address and consider the individual patient’s specific spiritual needs, be they secular, spiritual and/or religious. In the final instance, spiritual care has only one ambition; to help the individual human being through crisis.

scholarly journals “We are also here”—Spiritual Care Practitioners’ Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study from Poland

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Domaradzki
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Current Health ◽  
The Impact

AbstractAlthough healthcare professionals have become the symbol of risk and sacrifice during the COVID-19 pandemic, spiritual care practitioners (SCP) have also put themselves at great risk while offering their service in hospitals, hospices and other healthcare facilities. This study was designed to explore the lived experiences of SCP during the current health crisis in Poland. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-four SCP. Nine major themes emerged from the interviews: personal reactions to the pandemic, SCP’s perception of the pandemic, the impact of COVID-19 on the provision of spiritual care, spiritual needs during the pandemic, work-related emotions, the impact of the COVID-19 on religion, the role of spiritual care during the outbreak, the healthcare professionals’ perceptions of SCP and barriers to the provision of spiritual care during the pandemic. The SCP indicated that although the COVID-19 crisis has affected the availability of pastoral, religious and spiritual care, it has amplified the importance of such care and has positively influenced the visibility of SCP in modern healthcare practice. Nonetheless, in such desperate times, SCP are still neglected and should be further recognised and integrated into the healthcare system.

scholarly journals Spiritual Needs Assessment in Post-Secular Contexts: An Integrative Review of Questionnaires

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 12898
Author(s):  
Ricko D. Nissen ◽  
Erik Falkø ◽  
Tobias K. Stripp ◽  
Niels Christian Hvidt
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Professional ◽  
Needs Assessment ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Significant Benefit ◽  
Integrative Review ◽  
International Exchange ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
General Guideline

Research across healthcare contexts has shown that, if provided appropriately, spiritual care can be of significant benefit to patients. It can be challenging, however, to incorporate spiritual care in daily practice, not least in post-secular, culturally entwined, and pluralist contexts. The aim of this integrative review was to locate, evaluate and discuss spiritual-needs questionnaires from the post-secular perspective in relation to their applicability in secular healthcare. Eleven questionnaires were evaluated and discussed with a focus on religious/spiritual (RS) wording, local culturally entwined and pluralist contexts, and on whether a consensual understanding between patient and healthcare professional could be expected through RS wording. By highlighting some factors involved in implementing a spiritual-needs questionnaire in diverse cultural and vernacular contexts, this article can assist by providing a general guideline. This article offers an approach to the international exchange and implementation of knowledge, experiences, and best practice in relation to the use of spiritual needs-assessment questionnaires in post-secular contexts.

scholarly journals Training hospital staff on spiritual care in palliative care influences patient-reported outcomes: Results of a quasi-experimental study

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 743-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joep van de Geer ◽  
Marieke Groot ◽  
Richtsje Andela ◽  
Carlo Leget ◽  
Jelle Prins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Patient Reported Outcomes ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Spiritual Distress ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
Care Training

Background: Spiritual care is reported to be important to palliative patients. There is an increasing need for education in spiritual care. Aim: To measure the effects of a specific spiritual care training on patients’ reports of their perceived care and treatment. Design: A pragmatic controlled trial conducted between February 2014 and March 2015. Setting/participants: The intervention was a specific spiritual care training implemented by healthcare chaplains to eight multidisciplinary teams in six hospitals on regular wards in which patients resided in both curative and palliative trajectories. In total, 85 patients were included based on the Dutch translation of the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool. Data were collected in the intervention and control wards pre- and post-training using questionnaires on physical symptoms, spiritual distress, involvement and attitudes (Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List) and on the perceived focus of healthcare professionals on patients’ spiritual needs. Results: All 85 patients had high scores on spiritual themes and involvement. Patients reported that attention to their spiritual needs was very important. We found a significant ( p = 0.008) effect on healthcare professionals’ attention to patients’ spiritual and existential needs and a significant ( p = 0.020) effect in favour of patients’ sleep. No effect on the spiritual distress of patients or their proxies was found. Conclusion: The effects of spiritual care training can be measured using patient-reported outcomes and seemed to indicate a positive effect on the quality of care. Future research should focus on optimizing the spiritual care training to identify the most effective elements and developing strategies to ensure long-term positive effects. This study was registered at the Dutch Trial Register: NTR4559.

What are the core elements of oncology spiritual care programs?

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Sinclair ◽  
Marlene Mysak ◽  
Neil A. Hagen
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Care Center ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Factors Affecting

AbstractObjective:Tending to the spiritual needs of patients has begun to be formally recognized by professional spiritual care providers, health care councils, and health delivery systems over the last 30 years. Recognition of these programs has coincided with evidence-based research on the effect of spirituality on health. Palliative care has served as a forerunner to an integrated professional spiritual care approach, recognizing the importance of addressing the spiritual needs of the dying from its inauguration within Western medicine almost 50 years ago. Oncology programs have also begun to recognize the importance of spirituality to patients along the cancer continuum, especially those who are approaching the end of life. Although standards and best practice guidelines have been established and incorporated into practice, little is known about the actual factors affecting the practice of spiritual care programs or professional chaplains working within an oncology setting.Methods:Participant observation and interactive interviews occurred at five cancer programs after we conducted a literature search.Results:This study identified underlying organizational challenges, cultural and professional issues, academic program development challenges, administrative duties, and therapeutic interventions that determined the success of oncology spiritual care programs in practice.Significance of results:Although spiritual care services have developed as a profession and become recognized as a service within oncology and palliative care, organizational and operational issues were underrecognized yet significant factors in the success of oncology spiritual care programs. Spiritual care programs that were centrally located within the cancer care center, reported and provided guidance to senior leaders, reflected a multifaith approach, and had an academic role were better resourced, utilized more frequently, and seen to be integral members of an interdisciplinary care team than those services who did not reflect these characteristics.

scholarly journals Developing an Educational Course in Spiritual Care: An Action Research Study at Two Danish Hospices

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 827
Author(s):  
Dorte Toudal Viftrup ◽  
Kenneth Laursen ◽  
Niels Christian Hvidt
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Training Course ◽  
Theater Workshop ◽  
The Individual

Further improvement of spiritual care in palliative care is warranted. Particularly reducing barriers and enhancing spiritual care competencies among the healthcare professionals is needed. The aim was to develop a training course in spiritual care in close collaboration with patients and staff from two Danish hospices. We applied an action research design to ensure that the training course was rooted in everyday practice of patients and staff. The methodology applied was based on philosophical hermeneutics and existential phenomenology. The action research process enabled the division into three topics on how a training course can reduce barriers towards spiritual care among the healthcare professionals. These three topics functioned as a theoretical framework for educating staff at a hospice in spiritual care. The three topics were: (1) the vulnerable encounter; (2) self-reflection concerning spiritual needs, thoughts, beliefs, and values; and (3) shared professional language for spiritual care. We operationalized the three topics into a flexible course design that could be adaptable to the practical possibilities and limitations of the individual hospice. The curriculum includes theoretical teaching, reflection exercises, and an improvisation theater workshop with professional actors. Educating staff led to the improvement of spiritual care at the hospices involved in the study.

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