Surprising results regarding MASCC members' beliefs about spiritual care

Abstract

Background The purpose of the study was to better understand the practice and meaning of spiritual care among cancer care professionals and ultimately provide a rationale for developing internationally focused spiritual care guidelines. Methods We developed a 16-question survey to assess the spiritual care practices. We sent 635 MASCC members 4 e-mails each inviting them to complete the survey via an online survey service. Demographic information was collected. The results were tabulated, and summary statistics were used to describe the results. Results Two hundred seventy-one MASCC members (42.7%) from 41 countries completed the survey. Of the respondents, 50.5% were age ≤50 years, 161 (59.4%) were women and 123 (45.4%) had ≥20 years of cancer care experience. The two most common definitions of spiritual care the respondents specified were “offering emotional support as part of addressing psychosocial needs” (49.8%) and “alleviating spiritual/existential pain/suffering” (42.4%). Whether respondents considered themselves to be “spiritual” correlated with how they rated the importance of spiritual care (P≤0.001). One hundred six respondents (39.1%) reported that they believe it is their role to explore the spiritual concerns of their cancer patients, and 33 respondents (12.2%) reported that they do not feel it is their role. Ninety-one respondents (33.6%) reported that they seldom provide adequate spiritual care, and 71 respondents (26.2%) reported that they did not feel they could adequately provide spiritual care. Conclusions The majority of MASCC members who completed the survey reported that spiritual care plays an important role in the total care of cancer patients, but few respondents from this supportive care focused organization actually provide spiritual care. However, in order to be able to provide a rationale for developing spiritual care guidelines, we need to understand how to emphasize the importance of spiritual care and at minimum, train MASCC members to triage patients for spiritual crises.

Do patients want doctors to talk about spirituality? A systematic literature review

“…Traditionally the chaplain is the designated spiritual carer, M a n u s c r i p t 4 but the role of the medical team in spiritual care has been increasingly promoted. (5,6) This is a result of moves to reintroduce a biopsychosocialspiritual model of care into medicine (7) and research suggesting that a significant proportion of patients would like their physician to enquire about their spiritual needs (8,9). Furthermore, evidence suggests that healthcare is enhanced when the doctor is aware of strongly held religious and spiritual (R/S) beliefs.…”

Nurse and Physician Barriers to Spiritual Care Provision at the End of Life

“…In studies of self-reported barriers to SC provision, reasons cited by nurses and physicians for infrequent SC provision include insufficient time to discuss R/S and personal discomfort with R/S. 14–17 Although illuminating as to potential barriers at play, these studies do not examine the relationship of these barriers to actual SC provision to patients. Furthermore, there are other putative barriers that require investigation, such as the asymmetry between the U.S. population and medical professionals in religious characteristics, including religious affiliation and self-reported religiosity and spirituality; 13,18 these factors may prompt medical professionals to avoid R/S issues, rather than risk creating discomfort or offense.…”

Spiritual Exploration in the Prenatal Genetic Counseling Session

“…A person might be described as more or less religious based upon how many times he or she attended religious services or participated in religious activities such as worship, prayer, or other religious actions (Koenig, King, & Benner Carson 2012). In contrast, spirituality is widely-acknowledged to have a broader definition than religiosity in which both religious and nonreligious perspectives are encompassed, as spirituality is not restricted by the boundaries of any one religious tradition and is frequently a self-defined concept (Breen et al 2006;McCarthy Veach et al 2003;Price et al 2007;Ramondetta et al 2013). Spirituality often centers on the search for meaning or purpose in life, and spiritual beliefs and practices aid a person in looking outside of the self for support and/or guidance in crisis situations (Breen et al 2006;D'Souza 2007;Seth et al 2011;Weil 2000).…”

“…A qualitative study of 130 pregnant women that asked how faith or spirituality impacted their pregnancy revealed that these women commonly found faith to provide guidance and support, protection, communication with God, strength, and help in making difficult choices (Jesse, Schoneboom, & Blanchard 2007). A patient's spiritual beliefs may provide comfort and reconciliation that could help ease difficult decisions (Anderson 2009;Ramondetta et al 2013;Seth et al 2011).…”

“…Appropriate spiritual care, then, involves recognition and support of the religious and spiritual dimensions of the presenting situation (Balboni et al 2013;Ramondetta et al 2013). Providers are often unsure as to whom the responsibility of addressing spiritual needs and tending to spiritual care in the medical setting belongs.…”