The spiritual care provided by nurses is not obvious. The literature on spiritual care within the context of palliative care nursing is sparse and contradictory. None of the research is from the Canadian perspective. Thus, this project examined the meanings made by palliative care nurses as they provided spiritual care to people who were dying at home. This qualitative study utilized the methodology of the naturalistic inquiry. From a population of 47 Canadian palliative care nurses who provided home nursing in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, six nurses participated in semi-structured conversations about their experience of providing spiritual care within the context of palliative care. Three major themes emerged : the nurses' focus of spiritual care on the time surrounding the dying and the death; the nurses' beliefs about spirituality, religion, and their own work; and the nurses' evaluation of their caregiving as evidenced by the 'Good Death'. The nature of the nurses' spiritual care was of guiding, doing the unusual, relating to distress as well as relating to the one cared-for with love and friendship. The nature of the spiritual care is discussed from the perspective of caring as moral grounding and cultural imperative. Consideration is given to empowering nurses through liberating the ethic of care. What the nurses know about spiritual caregiving is looked at through the framework of the art of nursing, the nurses' beliefs about spirituality, and the hidden work of nursing. As well, the nurses' evaluation of their spiritual caregiving resulting in 'good death' and 'death with dignity' is explored. Noting incongruence between the nurses' personal beliefs and religiosity and what they want for their patients, the author offers the possibility that caregiving itself has become the religious expression of the nurses. Implications for nursing encompass the education of nurses, the practice of nursing, as well as the inclusion of nursing knowledge at the policy and budgetary levels. Nursing education must change, from talking about wholistic care, to teaching how to care for the whole person by including care of the spirit in the curriculum. Nurses who have knowledge and experience in caring for spiritual distress need to share their knowledge and start the process of mentoring other nurses into the practice of truly wholistic care. As well, nurses must become advocates and educators at the institutional and governing levels in order that human needs, including spiritual needs, are included in the decision making about health care policy and budgets / Master of Nursing (Hons)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/182266 |
| Creators | Iverson, P. Dianne, University of Western Sydney, Faculty of Nursing and Community Health, School of Nursing, Family and Community Health |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Source | THESIS_CSHS_NFC_Iverson_P.xml |
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