Provision of Spiritual Care to Patients With Advanced Cancer: Associations With Medical Care and Quality of Life Near Death

Abstract:Nurses and health care professionals should have an active role in meeting the spiritual needs of patients in collaboration with the family and the chaplain. Literature criticizes the impaired holistic care because the spiritual dimension is often overlooked by health care professionals. This could be due to feelings of incompetence due to lack of education on spiritual care; lack of inter-professional education (IPE); work overload; lack of time; different cultures; lack of attention to personal spirituality; ethical issues and unwillingness to deliver spiritual care. Literature defines spiritual care as recognizing, respecting, and meeting patients' spiritual needs; facilitating participation in religious rituals; communicating through listening and talking with clients; being with the patient by caring, supporting, and showing empathy; promoting a sense of well-being by helping them to find meaning and purpose in their illness and overall life; and referring them to other professionals, including the chaplain/pastor. This paper outlines the systematic mode of intra-professional theoretical education on spiritual care and its integration into their clinical practice; supported by role modeling. Examples will be given from the author's creative and innovative ways of teaching spiritual care to undergraduate and post-graduate students. The essence of spiritual care is being in doing whereby personal spirituality and therapeutic use of self contribute towards effective holistic care. While taking into consideration the factors that may inhibit and enhance the delivery of spiritual care, recommendations are proposed to the education, clinical, and management sectors for further research and personal spirituality to ameliorate patient holistic care. OPEN ACCESSReligions 2015, 6 595

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“…The essence of spiritual care is being rather than simply doing [24]. Thus, therapeutic use of self is of utmost importance [25].…”

Section: Definition Of Spiritual Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Spiritual Care Education of Health Care Professionals

Baldacchino

2015

Religions

102

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“…Studies on the subject under discussion have shown that spirituality has a strong influence on the HRQoL of people with advanced disease and the evaluation of its dimensions cannot be measured without considering the dimension of spirituality, at the risk of not having a proper assessment (22,24) . Thus, these studies may lead to reflections on the role of caregivers as enablers of the inclusion of spiritual need in the context of a holistic patient and family care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thirteen studies evaluated the HRQoL of patients by performing therapeutic interventions, distributed as follows: six were on physical interventions (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) , four were on emotional interventions (18)(19)(20)(21) , and three were on spiritual interventions (22)(23)(24) (Chart 1). Finally, eight studies addressed the signs and the symptoms that negatively affected the HRQoL of patients with advanced cancer (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32) (Chart 2).…”

Section: Characterization Of the Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health-related quality of life among patients with advanced cancer: an integrative review

Freire

Sawada

França

et al. 2014

Rev. esc. enferm. USP

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RESUMENEsta revisión integradora de la literatura tuvo como objetivo caracterizar los artícu-los de la literatura nacional e internacional que abordan la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud (CVRS) de los pacientes con cáncer avanzado y resumir los factores evidenciados en la literatura que contribuyen a mejorarla o empeorarla. La búsqueda se realizó en las bases de datos electrónicas CINHAL, EMBASE, LILACS, SCIELO y PUB-MED. De los 21 artículos de la muestra, 13 estudios mostraron una mejoría de la CVRS de los pacientes con cáncer avanzado mediante la realización de intervenciones físicas, emocionales y espirituales. En ocho estudios se identificaron signos y síntomas predictores de baja de la CVRS citados como dolor, fatiga, trastornos del sueño, depresión, cambios nutricionales, entre otros. Los resultados muestran que las manifestaciones clínicas inherentes al cáncer son factores que pueden reducir la CVRS del paciente, mientras que los beneficios físicos, psicológicos y espirituales resultantes de las intervenciones terapéuticas pueden promover su mejora. DESCRIPTORES Neoplasias Enfermo terminal Calidad de vida Enfermería oncológica Revisión RESUMOEsta revisão integrativa da literatura objetivou caracterizar artigos abordando a qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde -QVRS -de pacientes com câncer avança-do nas literaturas nacional e internacional e sumarizar os fatores contribuintes para a melhora ou a piora da QVRS de pacientes com câncer avançado, evidenciados na literatura pesquisada. A busca foi realizada nas bases eletrônicas CINHAL, EMBA-SE, PUBMED, SCIELO e LILACS. Dentre os 21 artigos que compuseram a amostra, 13 evidenciaram melhora da QVRS de pacientes com câncer avançado mediante a realização de intervenções físicas, emocionais e espirituais. Em oito estudos, foram identificados sinais e sintomas preditores de baixa QVRS, como dor, fadiga, distúrbio do sono, depressão, alterações nutricionais, entre outros. Os resultados mostram que manifestações clínicas inerentes ao câncer são fatores que podem rebaixar a QVRS do paciente, enquanto os benefícios físicos, psicológicos e espirituais resultantes de intervenções terapêuticas, podem promover a melhora. DESCRITORES Neoplasias Doente terminal Qualidade de vida Enfermagem oncológica Revisão ABSTRACTThis integrative literature review aimed to characterize scientific articles on healthrelated quality of life -HRQoL -among patients with advanced cancer from national and international literature, and summarize those factors evidenced in the literature that contributed to the improvement or worsening of HRQoL among patients with advanced cancer. The search for materials was conducted in the following databases: CINAHL, EMBASE, PubMed, SciELO and LILACS. Among the 21 articles in the sample, 13 showed an improvement of HRQoL among patients with advanced cancer related to the development of physical, emotional and spiritual interventions. In eight studies, we identified predictive symptoms of low HRQoL, such as pain, fatigue, sleep disorders, depression, nu...

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“…2 Spirituality is an important component of quality of life, and a resource in patients coping with illness. [3][4] In elderly populations, spirituality is probably a signi cant factor when facing disability and approaching death. [5][6][7] While spirituality was associated with better mental, physical and social health in most researches, [8][9] other studies have also suggested that some negative aspects of spirituality (e.g., "low spiritual well-being" or "religious struggle"), might be associated with worse health outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring reliability and validity of Persian version of spirituality scale among elderly Iranian population

Hallaj¹,

Rafiey²,

Momtaz³

et al. 2014

Med gl Ins stit Zlatibor

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Objective: The aim of this study was to measure the validity and reliability of Persian version of spirituality scale among elderly Iranian people. Methods:Based on the international quality of life assessment (IQOLA) project approach, Persian version of the spirituality scale was prepared. Data on 200 elderly people (over 60 years old) were entered into SPSS software. Results:The ndings of the descriptive results of the current study showed that there was no correlation between the demographic data collected in this study such as age, religion and marital status with spirituality. On the other hand, after performing the exploratory factor analysis, calculating test-retest and intra-class correlation coef cient and measuring Cronbach's Alpha coef cient for internal consistency, the results showed that respectively the reliability, the face and content validity of the questionnaire were con rmed in high level. Also, through the exploratory factor analysis, the construct validity was con rmed. Conclusions: The Persian version of the spirituality scale in the elderly people with an acceptable reliability and validity can be used in clinical assessment and research.

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Provision of Spiritual Care to Patients With Advanced Cancer: Associations With Medical Care and Quality of Life Near Death

Abstract: Support of terminally ill patients' spiritual needs by the medical team is associated with greater hospice utilization and, among high religious copers, less aggressive care at EoL. Spiritual care is associated with better patient QoL near death.

Cited by 412 publications

References 32 publications

Spiritual Care Education of Health Care Professionals

Spiritual Care Education of Health Care Professionals

Health-related quality of life among patients with advanced cancer: an integrative review

Measuring reliability and validity of Persian version of spirituality scale among elderly Iranian population

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