Spirituality and Spiritual Care among Ethnic Chinese Residing in England: Implications for Nursing

Abstract

(1) Background: There is a lack of understanding of how spirituality is understood among ethnic Chinese living outside of China. The aim of this investigation was to gain insight into the meaning of spirituality and spiritual care among ethnic Chinese residing in England. (2) Methods: This study employed a grounded theory method. (3) Results: A core category called “seeking a meaningful life” emerged, comprising six categories: “motivation”, “support”, “maintaining standard values”, “achieving a meaningful life”, “relationships” and “perceptions of spirituality”. The core category included a three-stage process influenced by two factors: relationships with others and perceptions of spirituality. In motivated or supported situations of suffering and illness, ethnic Chinese usually follow principles of their Chinese tradition in seeking meaning for a satisfied spiritual life. This process is impacted by their relationships with others and view of spirituality. (4) Conclusions: Participants’ understanding of spirituality and spiritual care was related to seeking meaning and purpose in life. Nurses could incorporate the newly developed life meaning processes into their practice. This could be achieved by culturally explaining suffering and focusing on the significance of physical illness for Chinese people. This would ensure their spiritual care practice delivers culturally competent care for ethnic Chinese. Educators could also incorporate this process within their teaching materials so that this aspect of spiritual care is addressed for this specific group.

‘Existential’ in Scandinavian Healthcare Journals: An Analysis of the Concept and Implications for Future Research

“…The concept of 'existential', which is often used in Scandinavian white papers and Scandinavian healthcare journals, is associated with various meanings (Hvidt et al 2021;la Cour and Hvidt 2010). The frequent use of the concept of 'existential' stands in contrast to, for instance, the practice in international research in the field of nursing, which commonly employs the consensus-based concept of 'spirituality' (McSherry and Ross 2017;Niu et al 2021;Puchalski et al 2014).…”