‘What’s on your mind?’ The only necessary question in spiritual care

Abstract

Around the world, chaplains provide specialist spiritual care for people with complex healthcare needs. If the nature of chaplain interventions was better understood then multidisciplinary colleagues could both improve their own skills in spiritual care and better understand when to refer people to chaplains. A survey was constructed to establish what aspects of the chaplain/ patient relationship were most important for patients in Scotland and Australia. Outcomes were measured with the Scottish Patient Reported Outcome Measure (Scottish PROM ©). Results from 610 respondents showed the strongest correlation was between 'being able to talk about what is on my mind' and the Scottish PROM (r s (452) = .451, p < .0005). 'Being able to talk about what is on my mind' proved more important than being listened to, having faith/ beliefs valued, or being understood. Given the importance placed on listening and understanding by clinicians, this original and counterintuitive finding goes some way to explaining the unique role and function of healthcare chaplaincy.

Hospice palliative care nurses’ perceptions of spiritual care and their spiritual care competence: A mixed‐methods study

“…The ‘Factor 1(F1): assessment and implementation of spiritual care’ refers to the ability to determine a patient's spiritual needs or problems and to the planning of spiritual care (ISPEC, 2019; van Leeuwen et al, 2009). For this competence, written intra‐ and interprofessional communication skills regarding spiritual needs and spiritual care are required (Snowden et al, 2018).…”

“…These results can be interpreted as suggesting the need to educate nurses on how to hold in‐depth conversations and interactions with patients and how to provide appropriate documentation and/or interdisciplinary sharing to promote continuity of care. Snowden et al (2018) suggested that spiritual care professionals make a difference through diagnosis, interventions, and outcomes as reported by patients. They need to be trained to listen for spiritual needs and resources of patients’ loved ones.…”

Religious Doubt, Depressive Symptoms, and Rumination at an Advanced Age

“…Curative treatments should focus on helping older adults deal with their depressive feelings and religious doubts; for instance, by improving the pastoral activity in a nursing home. Having the feeling to be able to talk about what one has on his mind turned out to be a central aspect of pastoral interventions, besides being listened to and understood as well as having religious beliefs valued (Snowden et al, 2018). In addition, trained religious professionals can open the way for religious psychotherapeutic interventions such as religious cognitive-behavioral therapy in which a biblical approach can be applied along with the education of coping strategies to deal with both the depressive feelings and the religious doubts (Dein, 2013).…”

‘Nobody will put baby in the corner!’: A qualitative evaluation of a physical activity intervention to improve mental health

“…This ‘unconditional positive regard’ is a well‐known Rogerian principle (Amadi, 2013). Helping people to be able to talk about what is on their mind, whatever that may be, is a central tenet of expert spiritual care (Snowden et al., 2018), so the importance of an empathic BCP should not be underestimated here.…”