EMBRACING SPIRITUALITY IN THE WORK OF FRONTLINE NURSING HOME STAFF

Abstract Good end-of-life care for nursing home (NH) residents and their families provides spiritual support, however, the role that spirituality plays in work of NH staff has not been well described. To understand more about staff, we examined interview data generated from Assessment Disparities Variation Alzheimer Disease Nursing Home Care at End Life (ADVANCE) study, a large qualitative study conducted 14 NHs to examine differences with advanced dementia. We semi-structured nurses (Registered Nurses Licensed Practical Nurses) (n=45) certified assistants (CNAs) (n=25) who described or God response questions around experience caring Data were analyzed using constant comparative method. Most participants female (93%). Thirty-four identified as Black, 29 white, 7 other racial groups. The average age was 47.8 years, years 16.2 years. Participants reported several religious affiliations including Baptist (23); Agnostic/Atheist (2), Catholic (7), Methodist (4), Muslim (1), Other/Unaffiliated/Refused (18), Pentecostal Christian (9). found many CNAs, played an important providing meaning purpose, them resilience cope frequently losing they consider “family.” voices powerful provide insights into potential strategies retain support these essential, front-line providers.