Bakgrund: Patienternas beskrivning av andlighet samt behovet av andlig och existentiell omvårdnad är varierad. Vissa patienter kopplar samman begreppet andlighet med religion medan andra patienter anser det vara något unikt, innefattande människans existens och meningen med livet. Patienterna kommer i kontakt med sin inre andlighet vid svår sjukdom då existentiella tankar och frågor uppstår, i dessa situationer ligger vikten i att bli bemötta med närvaro och förståelse. Det finns dock patienter vilka inte anser det ligga i sjuksköterskors ansvar att erbjuda andlig och existentiell omvårdnad. Syfte: Att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av andlig och existentiell omvårdnad. Metod: Kvalitativ litteraturstudie med beskrivande syntes. Elva kvalitativa artiklar ur ett sjuksköterskeperspektiv analyserades och presenterades i resultatet. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i två teman; Begränsade möjligheter och Betydelsen av relationer, följt av fyra subteman där sjuksköterskornas upplevelser av fenomenet beskrevs. Sjuksköterskorna beskrev att det var energikrävande att utföra existentiella samtal samt att de var rädda att göra fel på grund av otillräcklig kunskap. Tid var en bristande resurs då sjuksköterskorna upplevde en hög arbetsbelastning. De uttryckte att ett genuint intresse samt ett öppet sinne var en förutsättning för att kunna bemöta patienternas andliga behov. Sjuksköterskorna beskrev även att närvaro och fysisk beröring ingick i den andliga och existentiella omvårdnaden, dessutom bedrevs denna omvårdnad ibland utan ord. Slutsats: Det framkom att sjuksköterskorna hade både positiva och negativa upplevelser av andlig och existentiell omvårdnad. Viljan fanns ändå att vårda människan ur ett helhetsperspektiv där det ansågs viktigt att vara lyhörd och närvarande. Ibland upplevdes det finnas brister på resurser och kunskap vilket ledde till känslan av otillräcklighet, därav tillgodosågs inte alltid det andliga behovet av sjuksköterskorna. / Background: The patients description about spirituality and the need of spiritual and existential care are varied. Some patients connect the concept spirituality with religion while other patients consider it to be something unique, comprising the existential about being a human and the meening of life. The patients get in touch with their internal spirituality in severe disease when the upcome of existential thoughts and questions appear, in these situations the importance lies in beeing met with presence and understanding. Though, there are patients that doesn´t consider it to be nurses responsability to provide spiritual and existential care. Aim: To describe the nurses experiences about spiritual and existential care. Method: Qualitative literature study with descriptive synthesis. Eleven qualitative articles from a nurse perspective were analysed and presented in the result of the master thesis. Result: The analysis resulted in two themes; Limited possibilities and the importance of relationships, followed by four subthemes describing nurses experiences of the phenomenom. The nurses described it energy-consuming performing existential conversations and that the nurses worried about doing it wrong due the lack of skills. The nurses experienced that time were a lack of resource because of the high workload. The nurses felt that a genuine interest and an open mind were the basis to meet the patients spiritual needs. The nurses described presence and physical touch, being a part of the spiritual and existential care, this nursing could also be performed without words. Conclusion: It appeared that the nurse hade both positive and negative experiences about spiritual and existential care. Allthough there was a willingness of caring for the human from a holistic perpspective where the importance lay in sensitivity and presence. Sometimes there were shortcomings current resources and knowledge which led to feelings about inadequacy, thereof the nurse couldn´t allways cater for the spiritual need.

Historically, clinical spiritual care and education (or clinical pastoral education, CPE) has focused on pastoral formation, pastoral competence/conversation, pastoral understanding, and interpersonal dynamics. With the rise in holistic education in adult education this research sought to understand how students’ spirituality is affected by the CPE process. The primary research question was: Does CPE affect the spiritual lives and formation of its students? And if it does, how? A secondary research question was: Does CPE affect students’ connection to the god(s)/higher power/divine entity of their understanding? And if it does, how? First, the researcher developed a qualitative survey that allowed participants to self-define their spirituality and provide open-ended descriptions on how CPE affected their spiritual formation, or not. The survey was published with ACPE, Inc. and 17 participants answered. The data was analyzed through thematic coding and five themes emerged: Changes in Relationality, Things That Came Out of Struggle, Changes in Spiritual Beliefs & Spiritual Practices, Importance of Essential Elements in CPE, Things that Came Out of Struggling Related to Divinity. My assessment of the results of the themes is that CPE has been implicitly addressing the spiritual needs and spiritual formation of its students. Therefore, my recommendation is for Educators to find ways to make the implicit explicit thus enhancing what is already present in the curriculum.

Bakgrund: Den palliativa vården ska ges genom att se patienten utifrån fysiska, psykiska, sociala och andliga dimensioner. Studier visar att patienter inte fått sina andliga behov uppfyllda i sjukvården och att det kan leda till depressiva symtom och en minskad känsla av mening och fridfullhet. I livets slutskede finns skäl att tro att andliga frågor och behov kan tillta. Eftersom sjuksköterskor är ansvariga för omvårdnaden och arbetar nära patienten behövs kunskap kring deras erfarenheter av att möta patienters andliga behov. Syfte: Att undersöka sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att möta behovet av andlighet hos patienter i ett palliativt skede. Metod: Examensarbetet har genomförts som en litteraturstudie och är baserad på 12 artiklar med kvalitativ studiedesign. Resultat: I resultatet identifierades tre teman, religiösa aspekter av den andliga omvårdnaden, mötet med patienten samt utmaningar och förutsättningar. Under respektive tema urskildes subteman, vilka var religiösa riter/handlingar, ta hjälp av andra, respektera patientens trosuppfattning, kommunikation, relationsbyggande, andlig omvårdnad som en del av fysisk omvårdnad, praktiska utmaningar och förutsättningar och sjuksköterskans personliga utmaningar och förutsättningar. Konklusion: Sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att ge andlig omvårdnad skilde sig åt runt om i världen och att de religiösa trosuppfattningarna i landet kunde speglas i vården. Sjuksköterskornas relation och hur de kommunicerade med patienten visade sig vara väsentligt för att kunna förse patienten med den andliga omvårdnad de behövde. I vården finns utmaningar som exempelvis tidsbrist, hög arbetsbelastning samt okunskap, vilket påverkade i vilken utsträckning sjuksköterskorna kunde möta patienternas andliga behov. / Background: Palliative care should be provided by considering the patient from physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions. Studies show that patients have not had their spiritual needs met in healthcare, which could lead to depressive symptoms and a decreased sense of meaning and peace. At the end of life, there is reason to believe that spiritual questions and needs may increase. Since nurses have the nursing responsibility and work closely with the patient, knowledge about their experiences of meeting patients spiritual needs is necessary. Aim: To explore nurses’ experiences of meeting the spiritual needs of patients in a palliative stage. Method: The thesis has been conducted as a literature study and is based on 12 articles with a qualitative study design. Results: Three main themes were identified in the results: religious aspects of spiritual care, the encounter with the patient and challenges and prerequisites. Under each main theme, sub-themes were identified, which were religious rituals/acts, seeking help from others, respecting the patients’ beliefs, communication, building relationships, spiritual care as part of physical care, practical challenges and prerequisites, and the nurses’ personal challenges and prerequisites. Conclusion: Nurses' experiences of providing spiritual care varied around the world, and the religious beliefs in the country could be reflected in the care. The nurses' relationship and communication with the patient proved to be essential in providing the spiritual care they needed. In healthcare, there are challenges such as lack of time, high workload, and lack of knowledge, which affected the extent to which nurses could meet patients' spiritual needs.

No description available.

This Applied Research Project (ARP) utilized qualitative research, specifically hermeneutic phenomenology, to investigate the vital roles of chaplains in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chaplains played a significant role in providing spiritual care to patients, their families, and staff during the pandemic. Since there were limited studies about the role of chaplains during the pandemic, this research project adds to the knowledge and resources of what is known about the role of chaplains amid the pandemic. In this qualitative study, I convened and interviewed five Board Certified Chaplains (BCC) to identify their role during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research shows the different roles of chaplains, the interventions they used, the challenges they experienced, and the changes in their roles because of the pandemic. The result of this study tells us that the chaplain's role did not change; chaplains continue to provide spiritual care. What changed was the implementation of the care they provided and the shifting of their priorities.

The purpose of this study was to understand what is meant by spiritual care (andlig vård) as structured within the founding statutes and guidelines of the hospital church (Sjukhuskyrkan), the correctional services (Kriminalvården), and the health care services (hälso- och sjukvården) in Sweden. How the possibilities and limitations of spiritual care in Sweden are made visible from a socio-religious perspective is an overarching research question that forms the basis for the three sub-questions on how spiritual care is defined, designated and structured. The basis for the empirical material is partly text material from laws, presentations, guidelines, directives and basic documents for spiritual care and partly interview material from selected informants.Parts of the Constitution of Society by Anthony Giddens (1984) became the theoretical perspective. The method chosen emanated in the qualitative methods of Kirsti Malterud. The conclusions are that the structure for spiritual care in Sweden is strictly community-centered, and is reproduced through the individual actors, where the dominance of the Hospital Church maintains another ongoing and changing social system in spiritual care. This can create an unbalanced social structure in the arena of spiritual care. SST, Myndigheten för stöd till trossamfund (the Swedish Agency for Support to Faith Communities) and the Hospital Church have the means of power through the external caregiver structure on which spiritual care is based. This structure applies in a similar way to the spiritual care within the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, that reports structural imbalances that can lead to social vulnerability, discrimination and intolerance in prisons and demanding a Swedish vocational education. A clearer, patient-centered, approach is pointed out in this study, where patients with an existential crisis can be treated with either a general spirituality or a religious spirituality, where the concept of existential health through existential support can then be about both spiritual care and nursing.

Introduction:  Spiritual care encompasses seeking or expressing meaning and purpose in life. Spiritual care is significant for the palliative patient.  When the person goes through a difficult situation or suffers from an incurable disease, it is common for existential questions and spiritual needs to arise in the individual. In this situation, in order to provide spiritual care, the nurses must be established at the patient's request, and have a holistic approach. Aim: The aim of this study is to examine registered nurses’ experiences with caring for patients' spiritual health needs in palliative care in India. Method: The study had a qualitative method, and the sample consisted of a total of 7 nurses who have experience with palliative care. Data were collected through interviews and afterward transcribed and analyzed. The interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis method where three main categories and ten subcategories emerged. Result: In the results, three main categories emerged: the Meaning of spiritual care & nurse's role, different ways to support patients with spiritual care, and the Challenges nurse face.  Conclusion: In palliative care, spiritual health is based on the patient's religious beliefs, cultural background, and personal preferences.

Title: Spiritual Care Interventions and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients Receiving Palliative Care Background: Despite the evidence supporting spiritual care in nursing and an increased quality of life among patients, patients feel that their spiritual needs are not being supported by medical professionals. Nurses agree that the role they play is significant in addressing the needs of cancer patients; however, they feel that they lack the knowledge for addressing spirituality concerns at the end of life. The purpose of this study is to identify spiritual care interventions that nurses can implement to improve quality of life (QOL) in patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative care. Method: This literature review consisted of articles retrieved from several databases, including CINAHL, PubMED, and PsychINFO, PsychARTICLES, ATLA Religion databases using the key words "cancer'" and "quality of life" "therapeutic communication", "spirit' therapy", "relaxation therapy", and "self-care". Inclusion criteria consisted of research conducted after the year 2000, peer reviewed work and research studies written in the English language. Results: Results from this literature review include recommended nursing interventions that provide spiritual care to patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative care for the purpose of improved quality of life. Spiritual care interventions identified in this study include Meaning Centered Group Psychotherapy (MCGP), Supportive Group Psychotherapy (SGP), mental relaxation, mental images, TM, art therapy, socializing, communicative acts, aromatherapy, massage, exercise, hatha yoga, meditation, and activities such as gardening, watching TV, resting/sleeping and socializing.

This thesis argues for providing spiritual care in primary care for Massachusetts persons with disabilities having Medicare and Medicaid as their primary insurers. It outlines an advocacy strategy to (1) increase awareness of the importance of spiritual care as key to primary care, (2) get buy-in for spiritual care as an optional primary care service to Medicaid beneficiaries needing nonmedical supports and services to live in the community due to mental health diagnosis or physical disability, and (3) put forward a statutory or regulatory proposal requiring One Care plans to provide certified peer chaplains as a covered service starting 2023.

Base Teórica: Nas duas últimas décadas houve um crescimento no número de estudos que abordam o tema espiritualidade em cuidados paliativos, ressaltando o impacto desta dimensão na qualidade de vida dos pacientes/famílias. A atenção às necessidades espirituais tem sido reconhecida como um importante aspecto de avaliação da qualidade assistencial nas instituições de saúde. Os estudos indicam que uma das principais barreiras para uma abordagem que inclua espiritualidade no cuidado tem sido a falta de preparo/educação dos profissionais de saúde. Objetivos: Desenvolver e avaliar a eficácia do uso de um módulo de educação sobre espiritualidade na atenção a pacientes/famílias em cuidados paliativos para os profissionais de saúde do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA). Para alcançar este objetivo foi necessário na primeira etapa da pesquisa realizar o processo de adaptação/validação transcultural e avaliação das propriedades psicométricas da Spiritual Care Competence (SCCS) para o português falado no Brasil. Método: Na primeira etapa foi realizado um estudo de validação que seguiu os passos de Beaton: tradução para o português, retradução para o inglês, correção e adaptação semântica pelo comitê de especialistas, avaliação da clareza da versão pré-final e medidas psicométricas da versão final em português. Na segunda etapa foi realizado um estudo quase-experimental, do tipo pré-teste e pós-teste, a partir de uma abordagem quantitativa, com profissionais de saúde do HCPA. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de um questionário semiestruturado e da SCCS-versão brasileira. Resultados: Participaram da etapa de validação da SCCS 181 profissionais de saúde. Quanto à consistência interna, o alfa de Cronbach apresentou valor total de 0,92 e a média de correlação interitem foi de 0,29. O teste-reteste demonstrou que não houve diferença estatisticamente significante nas seis subescalas e o coeficiente de concordância intraclasse variou de 0,69 a 0,84, demonstrando a estabilidade da escala. Na etapa de uso do módulo de educação participaram 52 profissionais de saúde que atuam em cuidados paliativos no HCPA. Foram observadas diferenças significativas entre as medidas pré e pós-intervenção nas seguintes dimensões da SCCS - versão brasileira: avaliação e implementação do cuidado espiritual, profissionalização e melhoria da qualidade do cuidado espiritual, apoio e aconselhamento individualizado ao paciente (p<0,001) e encaminhamento (p=0,003). Conclusão: Estes dados indicam a qualidade das propriedades psicométricas da SCCS – versão brasileira para uso com profissionais de saúde. Quanto ao desenvolvimento e uso do módulo de educação permanente, os dados fornecem evidências preliminares, demonstrando os efeitos positivos do uso desta intervenção educativa no desenvolvimento das competências dos profissionais de saúde para uma abordagem integral, centrada no paciente/família e que contemple a atenção as suas necessidades espirituais e a sua participação no processo de tomada de decisão dos cuidados paliativos. Com base nos resultados deste estudo, sugere-se a necessidade da inclusão dos temas espiritualidade e cuidado espiritual nas bases curriculares e nos processos de educação permanente de instituições de ensino, assistência e pesquisa em saúde. / Theoretical Basis: Over the last two decades there has been an increase in the number of studies that address spirituality in palliative care, highlighting the impact of this dimension on patient/family quality of life. Attention to spiritual needs is recognized as an important aspect of evaluating the quality of care in health institutions. Studies indicate that one of the main obstacles to an approach which includes spirituality in palliative care has been the lack of preparation/education for healthcare professionals in relation to this issue. Objectives: Develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an education module on spirituality and spiritual care for patients/families under palliative care by healthcare professionals in Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. To achieve this objective it was necessary in the first stage of the research to carry out the cross-cultural adaptation/validation process and psychometric properties evaluation of the Spiritual Care Competence Scale for the Portuguese spoken in Brazil. Methods: During the first stage a validation study was conducted following the steps of Beaton: translation into Portuguese, back-translation into English, expert committee review for semantic equivalence, assessment of the clarity of the pre-final version, and evaluation of the psychometric properties of the final version in Portuguese. For the second stage, a quasi-experimental study, the pre-test and post-test type, from a quantitative approach, was carried out with health professionals of the HCPA. Data collection was conducted through the use of a semi-structured questionnaire and the SCCS - Brazilian version. Results: 181 health professionals participated in the validation stage of SCCS. Regarding the internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha showed a total value of 0.92 and the average inter-item correlation was 0.29. Test results demonstrated no statistically significant differences in the six subscales. The intraclass correlation coefficient ranged from 0.69 to 0.84, demonstrating the stability of the scale. Fifty-two healthcare professionals, who work in palliative care at HCPA, attended the education module. Significant differences were observed between pre and post-intervention in the following dimensions of SCCS - Brazilian version: assessment and implementation of spiritual care, professionalization and improving of spiritual care quality, personal support and patients counselling (p<0.001) and referral (p = 0.003). Conclusion: These data indicate the quality of the psychometric properties of SCCS - Brazilian version for use with health professionals. Through the development and use of the continuing education module, the results of this study provide preliminary evidence demonstrating the positive effects of using this educational intervention in developing the skills of healthcare professionals for a comprehensive approach centered on the patient/family including attention to their spiritual needs and their participation in the palliative care decision-making process. Based on the results of this study, we can suggest the necessity the inclusion of the theme of spirituality and spiritual care in curricular bases and in the continuing health education processes.