History, Culture and Traditions: The Silent Spaces in the Study of Spirituality at the End of Life

Abstract

Recent increase in the number of studies on spirituality manifests growing recognition of the importance of spirituality, as well as mounting interest in studying spirituality in healthcare. Most studies on spirituality in end of life care focus on identifying specific features of spirituality and often represent an individualistic understanding of spirituality. They seldom engage in a historical-cultural exploration of the contextual meanings of those features of spirituality. This paper aims to demonstrate the absence of contextual factors in studying spirituality at the end of life and to highlight the growing recognition of the importance of history, culture and traditions as resources to enrich our understanding of spirituality. An exploration of the concept of spirituality, an overview of the trajectory of the study of spirituality and a review of existing methodological stances reveal the silent space in current approaches to understanding spirituality at the end of life. Recognition of the importance of these contextual factors in understanding spirituality is growing, which is yet to influence the conceptualization and the conduct of spirituality research. Contextual understandings of spirituality that incorporate insights from the history, culture and traditions of specific contexts can inform effective means for providing spiritual support in clinical practice.

Spiritual care and support from the perspective of hospitalized cancer patients

“…Dvasingumas yra vienas iš žmogaus gyvenimo kokybės rodiklių (Lee, 2018). Sveikatos priežiūros kontekste dvasingumas dažniausiai vertinamas kaip visapusiškos ir į asmenį orientuotos priežiūros sąlyga (Inbadas, 2016). Per pirmuosius tris nepriklausomybės dešimtmečius Lietuvoje buvo atlikta dešimtys teorinio ir praktinio pobūdžio tyrimų, susijusių su dvasingumu, dvasine kultūra bei egzistencine gerove, ir tokių tyrimų skaičius tolygiai auga (Palijanskaitė, 2009).…”

Genealogies of spirituality: An historical analysis of a travelling term

“…It has recently been suggested that current discussions of spirituality, especially in the realm of healthcare, lack a sense of its historical and cultural backgrounds (Inbadas 2016). Standard narratives purporting to tell the history of spirituality go in one of two directions: some are focused exclusively on the modern usage of 'spirituality' and narrate the recent career of the term as produced by the ongoing transformation of institutional forms of religion.…”

Special Issue “International Conference of Spirituality in Healthcare. Sowing the Seeds”—Trinity College Dublin 2015

“…Inbadas [25] further highlights the cultural dimension of spirituality in palliative care. He calls for the need to find practical expressions of spirituality, and underlines the importance of attending to the "cultural embeddedness" of spirituality at such times ( [25], p. 7). He recognises, in keeping with our proposed definition, that meaning, purpose and transcendence are key aspects of personal spirituality.…”