viktor frankl, a neurologist and the founder of logo-therapy (1969) stated that “will to meaning” is the basic essence of the universe (1). logo-therapy means therapy through meaning, which is based on the premise that man has a will-to-meaning; the meaning thus lies in suffering(2). one of the most important human functions is discovering meaning in life, which is also considered as a sign of ...

Increasingly, social workers are being called on to conduct spiritual assessments, yet few assessment methods have appeared in academic literature. This article reviews five complementary assessment approaches that have recently been developed to highlight different facets of clients' spiritual lives. Specifically, one verbal model, spiritual histories, is discussed, along with four diagrammati...

Traumatic events may lead to dramatic changes in spirituality. The objective of this study was to explore whether posttraumatic spiritual transformation results not just from the traumatic event, but from spiritual experience during the crisis. The hypothesis tested was that survivors of a brush with death who had spiritual “near-death experiences” have greater spiritual growth and lesser spiri...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Spiritual needs of cancer patients should be assessed and discussed by healthcare professionals. Neurosurgical nurses need to be able to assess and support neuro-oncology patients with their spiritual needs from diagnosis and throughout their hospital stay. METHODS Data were collected through questionnaires using a Critical Incident Technique (CIT) from neurosurgical ...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To investigate spiritual transformation among patients with cancer. DESIGN Longitudinal. SETTING A university medical center in the midwestern United States. SAMPLE 47 adult cancer survivors. METHODS Patients were asked about spirituality, religious and spiritual importance, religious coping, and spiritual gain and decline at baseline as well as nine months post-treat...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To explore Singapore hospice nurses' perspectives of spirituality and spiritual care. DESIGN A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used. BACKGROUND Spiritual care is integral to providing quality end-of-life care. However, patients often report that this aspect of care is lacking. Previous studies suggest that nurses' neglect of this aspect of care could be attribute...

One of the most crucial palliative care challenges is in determining how patients’ needs are defined and assessed. Although physical and psychological needs are commonly documented in patient’s charts, spiritual needs are less frequently reported. The aim of this review was to determine which explicit, longitudinal documentation of spiritual concerns would sufficiently affect clinical care to a...

BACKGROUND Narcotics Anonymous is a worldwide fellowship that employs the Twelve-Step model for members dependent on drugs of abuse. The spiritual orientation of its program of abstinence has not been subjected to empirical study. METHODS Responses of 527 American Narcotics Anonymous meeting attendees to a structured questionnaire were evaluated for the roles of cognitive and psychosocial asp...

INTRODUCTION Given the particularity of spirituality in the Indian context, models and tools for spiritual care that have been developed in Western countries may not be applicable to Indian palliative care patients. Therefore, we intended to describe the most common signs of spiritual distress in Indian palliative care patients, assess differences between male and female participants, and formu...