We interviewed the general practitioners (GPs) of 40 patients with life-threatening illnesses over the course of the last year of life. We asked them to identify their patients' holistic needs, and to discuss whether they considered that they had a role in providing 'spiritual care'. The GPs varied greatly in their understanding of their patients' experiences and needs. Most said that they had ...

PURPOSE This article presents a model for research and practice that expands on the biopsychosocial model to include the spiritual concerns of patients. DESIGNS AND METHODS Literature review and philosophical inquiry were used. RESULTS The healing professions should serve the needs of patients as whole persons. Persons can be considered beings-in-relationship, and illness can be considered ...

OBJECTIVE Even in secular societies, a small portion of patients find their spirituality to help cope with illness. But for the majority of patients, psychosocial and spiritual needs are neither addressed nor even considered a relevant factor by health care professionals. To measure such specific needs, the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ) was developed. The aim of this study was to validat...

As nurse researchers, we were studying Iranian nurses’ competencies in spiritual care recently. Using a selfdirected instrument, we surprisingly found that nurses have low acquaintance with the spirituality concept and how to provide spiritual care. Similar to other caring activities and procedures, spiritual care improves people’s spiritual well-being and performance as well as the quality of ...

BACKGROUND Spiritual distress is prevalent in advanced disease, but often neglected, resulting in unnecessary suffering. Evidence to inform spiritual care practices in palliative care is limited. AIM To explore spiritual care needs, experiences, preferences and research priorities in an international sample of patients with life-limiting disease and family caregivers. DESIGN Focus group stu...

Background and Objectives: The evaluation and accurate recognition of all the needs and problems of patients, including spiritual needs, are inevitable to increase the quality of nursing care. This study aimed to evaluate the spiritual needs and their association with anxiety and depression in the elderly with chronic diseases. Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on 10...

PURPOSE Spirituality encompasses a wide range of meanings between holistic wellbeing and mysticism. We explored advanced cancer patients' spiritual experiences of transcendence. METHODS A total of 251 patients with advanced cancer were included and observed (participant observation) over 12 months by a psycho-oncologist/music-therapist. She recorded and documented patients' spontaneously expr...