A Meaning-centered spiritual care training program for hospice palliative care team in South Korea: development and preliminary evaluation

Abstract

Background Spirituality is a fundamental and intrinsic aspect of human beings and should be a core component of quality palliative care. There is an urgent need for training of hospice palliative care teams (HPCTs) to enhance their competency to provide spiritual care. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a meaning-centered spiritual care training program for hospice palliative care teams (McSCTP-HPCT). Methods In this methodological study we developed a training program for HPCTs, using the ADDIE educational content developmental model. The final training program comprised five modules. The modules’ content was informed by Viktor Frankl’s meaning-centered logotherapy with its emphasis on spiritual resources as well as the spiritual care model of ISPEC (Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum). Following development, a pilot test was conducted with four nurses. The results of the pilot were used to inform the final program. The final program was tested in an intervention involving 13 hospice palliative care nurses. Measurements using self-administered questionnaires were taken at three points before and after the intervention. Participants’ demographic and career-related characteristics and the degree of variance between outcome variables (compassion fatigue [CF], spiritual care competency [SCC], and spiritual care therapeutics [SCT]) were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way ANOVA. Results The MCTP-HPCT was developed into five modules. Module I: The HPCT’s SCC evaluation, understanding the major concepts of spiritual care and logotherapy, Module II-IV: Meaning-centered intervention related to the spiritual needs (existential, relational, and transcendental/religious), Module V: The process of meaning-centered spiritual care. The preliminary evaluation showed a significant differences in all three outcome variables at the first measure point (CF, p = 0.037; SCC, p = 0.005; SCT, p = 0.002). At the second measure point statistical significance was found only with SCC (p = 0.006). Conclusions The MCTP-HPCT developed in this study is suitable for use in clinical settings and provides evidence for evaluating the spiritual care competency of HPCTs.