The effect of applying Spiritual Care Model on well-being and quality of care in cancer patients

Nurses' models of spiritual care: A cross-sectional survey of American nurses

OBJECTIVES

Despite there being many models for how spiritual care should be provided, the way nurses actually provide spiritual care often differs from these models. Based on the premise that the way a person enacts their work role is related to how they understand that role, this study aims to describe the qualitatively different ways that nurses understand their spiritual care role.

METHODS

A convenience sample of 66 American nurses completed an anonymous, online questionnaire about what spiritual care means for them and what they generally do to provide spiritual care. Their responses were analyzed phenomenographically.

RESULTS

Four qualitatively different ways of understanding emerged: active management of the patient's experience, responsive facilitation of patient's wishes, accompaniment on the patient's dying journey, and empowering co-action with the patient. Each understanding was found to demonstrate a specific combination of 5 attributes that described the spiritual care role: nurse directivity, the cues used for spiritual assessment, and the nurse's perception of intimacy, the patient, and the task.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

The findings of this study may explain why nurses vary in their spiritual care role and can be used to assess and develop competence in spiritual care.

The effects of spiritual care intervention on spiritual well-being, loneliness, hope and life satisfaction of intensive care unit patients

BACKGROUND

The intensive care unit is a place where patients try to cope with pain and question the meaning and purpose of life and spiritual needs emerge.

OBJECTIVE

The present study was conducted to examine the effects of spiritual care interventions on the spiritual well-being, loneliness, hope, and life satisfaction of patients treated in intensive care.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted in an intensive care unit as an interventional study with a randomized pre-test, post-test, and control group between September and December 2021. A total of 64 patients, 32 in the intervention group and 32 in the control group, were included in the sample. The patients in the intervention group received eight sessions (twice a week) of spiritual nursing interventions according to the Traditions-Reconciliation-Understandings-Searching-Teachers model in the intensive care unit, while the control group received routine nursing care.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 63.53 ± 4.10 years in the intervention group and 63.37 ± 3.18 years in the control group. Most of the participants in both the intervention (59.4 %) and control (68.7 %) groups were female. Following the intervention, the findings showed that the intervention had positive effects on patients' spiritual well-being (t = -10.382), loneliness (t = 13.635), hope (t = -10.440), and life satisfaction (t = -10.480) levels (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

It was found that the spiritual care provided in the intensive care unit positively affected patients' spiritual well-being, hope, loneliness, and life satisfaction levels. It can be recommended that nurses working in intensive care develop a spiritually supportive environment by addressing the spiritual issues of patients and their relatives and using existing spiritual care services.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE

Intensive care nurses should provide an environment and nursing care that meet their patients' spiritual needs. Spiritual care can be given to improve spiritual well-being, hope, and life satisfaction levels and to alleviate loneliness in intensive care patients.

Developing a Spiritual Care Model for Clinical Nurses: A Theory Synthesis

This study was carried out to develop a spiritual care model for clinical nurses. This study has used a 3-step strategy proposed by L. O. Walker and K. C. Avant (2019) for theory synthesis. In the second phase of this study, an integrative review was conducted to retrieve and select relevant articles. A total of 227 documents were included for theory construction. After identifying and defining the basic assumptions of the model, the concept of spiritual care was defined as a paradigmatic concept with a holistic approach. Then the metaparadigmatic concepts (ie, human being, environment, nursing, and health) were defined according to the holistic approach. After defining the model care goals, clinical strategies and interventions were defined according to the goals and the concept of health as an outcome of spiritual care. Nurses' clinical roles were conceptualized within the conceptual framework that includes 3 main steps of nursing process: (1) assessment and identification of the client to explore the spiritual perspective; (2) planning and implementing spiritual care; (3) documenting and evaluating spiritual care. This model can tell clinicians what to do in caring for patients, especially chronic and end-stage patients. Therefore, this model could help provide better care for all clients.