Clients' spiritual perspective of care

• Main Author: Wendall, Pamela S.
• Other Authors: Ryan, Marilyn E.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Hospital care > Religious aspects > Public opinion.; Hospital patients > Religious life > Public opinion.; Hospital patients > Counseling of > Public opinion.; Hospital patients > Attitudes.; Nurse and patient.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/186752; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1191724

Spiritual dimensions are an important focus for nursing care and nurses can be catalysts for spiritual care. The purpose of this descriptive comparative analysis is to examine the spiritual care needs as perceived by terminally ill clients, non-terminally ill clients, and well adults. The theoretical framework for this study is Leininger's "Cultural Care Theory" that supports the notion that spiritual care needs to be culturally congruent.Participants were obtained from a 225-bed hospital, hospice, home care, and a wellness program in a midwestern city. Permission was obtained from the hospital President, Vice President of Nursing, the directors of Hospice and Home Care, and the community's Wellness Program. The number of participants was 76. The process for the protection of human rights was followed.Findings were that terminally ill, non-terminally ill, and well-adults all agree that receiving spiritual care that is congruent with beliefs is important. The terminally ill clients rated spiritual needs higher than both non-terminally ill and well-adults. All groups rated the same in the persons from whom it was wished to receive spiritual care. Common themes of spiritual care desired from these persons for the terminally ill group was: pray for/with me and talk to me. For the non-terminally ill group it was: give me information, The understanding, and provide emotional and spiritual support. Finally, for the well-adults it was: listen to me, talk to me, be confident, and support me.No statistical difference between groups (.940) on the SPS. On the SPC, the terminally ill group was more satisfied (5.20) with spiritual support they were receiving than the non-terminally ill group or well-adults.It was concluded that regardless of the stage of illness, the same spiritual needs are prominent, all individuals have spiritual needs, and several types of interventions are preferred. It has been demonstrated in this study that prayer is the most sought after component of spiritual care among all three groups. Second to that would be someone to talk to and someone to listen to them.Implications call for nurses to facilitate spiritual care from family, friends, minister or priest, and hospital chaplain. This could be written into the plan of care by having the client describe the type of spiritual care they want to receive. Nursing Administration needs to work with nursing staff to define spirituality and religion and what they mean to the nurse. === School of Nursing