Spiritual Needs of Older Adults Living with Dementia: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Older adults living with dementia experience progressive decline, prompting reliance on others for spiritual care and support. Despite a growing interest in studying persons living with dementia (PLwDs), empirical evidence on the spiritual needs of PLwDs has not been synthesized. Using the Whittemore and Knafl method, this integrative review examined the literature from 2000 to 2022 on the spiritual care needs of PLwDs. We sought to identify characteristics of the spiritual needs of PLwDs and ways to address them. The ATLA Religion, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Socindex databases were used to search the literature, and 12 peer-reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria. Spiritual care needs varied across studies. Overall, findings support the importance of identifying PLwDs’ religious and spiritual backgrounds to inform person-centered care. Spiritual needs were identified as verbal and non-verbal expressions related to past meaning and religious and spiritual background and were not consistently addressed in care. Providers reported observing spiritual distress in the mild stage prompting the need for spiritual care. There is a great need for dementia-specific spiritual assessment tools and spiritual care interventions to support spiritual well-being in dementia care. Spiritual care involves facilitating religious rituals and providing spiritual group therapy and religious and spiritual activities.

Better spiritual support for people living with early stage dementia: Developing the diamond conversation model

“…With regard to the polarity of maintaining self and being valued , a literature review of qualitative studies by Steeman et al (2006) found that people often reported a struggle to hold onto their identity, and that being understood and valued by others was important in this regard. Likewise, a literature review of spiritual needs of older adults living with dementia by Britt et al (2023) found that preserving self was an important challenge for people. What our research adds is a more pronounced polarity between intra- and inter-personal processes that are instrumental in reaffirming identity.…”

Spiritual Dimension in the Life of a Senior with Dementia

“…Research conducted across a range of studies (Britt et al, 2023) has highlighted the importance and delineated the spiritual needs of older people with early stage dementia living in the community. These studies revealed that the spiritual needs of this population predominantly revolved around desires to cope with memory impairment and loss of independence.…”

“…Other benefits of spiritual care in advanced illness include reducing depressive symptoms and anxiety and maintaining social relationships. Holistic care, through daily client engagement, honors each individual's unique values and promotes their identity and personhood, which is much needed when caring for seniors with dementia throughout the course of the disease (Britt et al, 2023).…”

Spiritual Care through the Lens of Portuguese Palliative Care Professionals: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis

“…Studies have consistently shown that spiritual care has beneficial impacts on healthrelated quality of life, hope, and coping skills and can lower anxiety, depression, and suicide in patients [24][25][26][27][28][29], regardless of their age or medical condition. This includes patients with cancer, organ failure, and dementia, among others [30][31][32][33]. Furthermore, research indicates that a healthcare team's failure to provide adequate spiritual support is linked to dissatisfaction with care, reduced use of hospice services, increased use of aggressive treatment, and higher costs [34][35][36].…”