Background and Aim: Despite growing body of literature regarding marital adjustment of infertile women, to our knowledge, there is no study to address the role of religious and spiritual beliefs in adjusting marital relationships in infertile women. Considering the significance of marital cohesiveness and commitment in the long and stressful journey of infertile women, this study was designed t...

A compassionate love scale was developed that can be used, in alternative forms, to assess compassionate or altruistic love for different targets (e.g., close others and all of humankind). Using three samples (total N = 529), the Compassionate Love scale was developed and piloted. Three studies (total N = 700) were then conducted to provide validation of the scale and to examine correlates of c...

Spirituality is an essential component of the care of patients with serious illness and those that are dying. Dame Cicely Saunders developed the hospice movement based on the biopsychosocialspiritual model of care, in which all four dimensions are important in the care of patients. Of all the models of care, hospice and palliative care recognize the importance of spiritual issues in the care of...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To examine the differences among secular, traditional, and religious Israeli oncology nurses' intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity, spiritual well-being, and attitudes toward spiritual care. DESIGN A comparative, descriptive study. SAMPLE 148 Israeli Jewish nurses drawn from the membership of the Israeli Oncology Nursing Association. METHODS Nurses completed mai...

INTRODUCTION Companion animals play important roles in the lives of people managing the many symptoms associated with a chronic illness such as HIV. This study explored meaningful examples of pets, particularly dogs, and their place in support networks among women living with AIDS/HIV. METHOD Data were collected via focus group, as part of a larger Photovoice project. Qualitative analysis dis...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To measure the prevalence of spiritual needs and identify factors associated with spiritual needs among patients with cancer and family caregivers. DESIGN Descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative. SETTING Inpatients and outpatients at a university medical center in the southwestern United States. SAMPLE 156 patients with cancer and 68 family caregivers who were primar...

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...

Spiritual care is integral to palliative care, and palliative care experience in offering spiritual care can be a resource for the emerging healthcare interest in spirituality. Spirituality is best understood in terms of the web of relationships that gives coherence to our lives, uniquely identifying each person. In palliative care, responsibility for spiritual care is shared by the whole team,...