Patient versus health care provider perspectives on spirituality and spiritual care: the potential to miss the moment

Abstract

Several discrepancies in perception of spirituality, spiritual distress and spiritual care may hinder the ability of HCP's to effectively offer meaningful spiritual care. A focus on active listening, being led by the patient, and by providing presence may help limit the risk of a disconnect, or a 'miss', in the provision of spiritual care.

Competence and frequency of provision of spiritual care by nurses in the Netherlands

“…In other studies, they mentioned barriers as lack of time, lack of privacy and inadequate training (12,17). Also, several discrepancies in perception of spirituality, spiritual distress and spiritual care between patients and nurses may hinder the ability of healthcare professionals to effectively offer meaningful spiritual care (25). However, Wu showed that the spiritual needs of patients showed a significant relationship with the knowledge of nurses, suggesting that the perceived knowledge of the nurses generally corresponded with the spiritual care items that the patients required most (26).…”

Patients' spirituality perspectives at the end of life: a qualitative evidence synthesis

“…The majority of studies were conducted in North America (n=26),19–44 with 11 from Europe,45–55 7 from Oceania4 56–61 and 6 from Asia 62–67. Participants were sampled from hospice settings (inpatient and hospice at home) in 27 studies,4 19 25 26 28–35 38–40 45–47 53 54 56–58 60–62 66 acute and long-term care settings in 9,22 27 44 55 59 63–65 67 general practices settings in 3,42 48 52 cancer centres in 4,23 24 36 37 a mix of settings in 3 studies21 49 50 and palliative care centres in 2 studies 43 51. One study provided no details on where participants were recruited from 41.…”

“…For 10 datasets, studies were included where they reported that the majority of patients (ie, ≥50%) had died within a year or before study completion 23 24 26 27 31 34 36 39 46 59 61. Twenty-one datasets included participants with a mix of chronic conditions,19 21 25 28–33 39–45 47–50 53 54 56–58 61 18 datasets included only participants with cancer,4 20 23 24 26 27 34–37 46 51 52 59 60 62–67 and 1 dataset included participants with only neurodegenerative diseases 55. Two datasets did not specify participants’ conditions 22 38…”

“…Twenty-two studies focused on issues of spirituality at the end of life,4 19 20 22 25 28 32 33 38 39 44 47–49 53 54 56–58 60 62 63 while the remaining studies provided insights into spirituality within the broader context of patient needs and experiences at the end of life 21 23 24 26 27 29–31 34–37 40–43 45 46 50–52 55 59 61 64–67. In the studies that reported religious affiliation, patients included Christians (predominantly Catholics, Protestants, Baptists and Methodists), Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Confucian or Taoists, charismatic denominations, and those with no specific religious affiliation.…”

“…The potential for bias in data collection, analysis and interpretation arising from the relationship between the researcher and the participants was only adequately reported in 6 of the 50 studies 31 40 43 49 50 62. Appropriate recruitment strategies was another area of poor reporting with 34% of studies providing either insufficient information20 22 25 28–30 32 33 44 46 53–55 59 67 or reporting sufficient information but outlining an approach that was inconsistent with the study design, for example, using saturation as reason to stop recruitment with a phenomenological design 23 24…”