As patients near the end of life, their spiritual and religious concerns may be awakened or intensified. Many physicians, however, feel unskilled and uncomfortable discussing these concerns. This article suggests how physicians might respond when patients or families raise such concerns. First, some patients may explicitly base decisions about life-sustaining interventions on their spiritual or...

This case report shares a nursing experience that applied Swanson's Caring Theory as part of the care regimen for a terminal lung cancer patient suffering from spiritual distress. The nursing care was provided from March 20th to April 25th, 2012. Data were collected through observation and conversation and recorded using sketches and written notes. The nurse assessed the patient's relationships...

Objective This is a review of spiritually based interventions (eg, mindfulness-based stress reduction) that utilized psychoneuroimmunological (PNI) outcome measures in breast cancer survivors. Specifically, this review sought to examine the evidence regarding relationships between spiritually based interventions, psychosocial-spiritual outcomes, and biomarker outcomes in breast cancer survivors...

The purpose of the pilot project is to develop a methodology for: operationally specifying clergy and chaplain interventions at a level of detail that will enable replication by other clergy and chaplains; developing consensus definitions of the constructs and terminology used in describing pastoral and spiritual care interventions; establishing the infrastructure of procedures for managing the...

The purpose of the pilot project is to develop a methodology for: operationally specifying clergy and chaplain interventions at a level of detail that will enable replication by other clergy and chaplains; developing consensus definitions of the constructs and terminology used in describing pastoral and spiritual care interventions; establishing the infrastructure of procedures for managing the...

Most of the rhetoric decrying the incorporation of basic and positive spiritual care into clinical practice is not based on reliable evidence. We briefly review the current evidence, which demonstrates that (a) there is frequently a positive association between positive spirituality and mental and physical health and well being, (b) most patients desire to be offered basic spiritual care by the...

Research indicates that nurses do not consistently provide spiritual care, feel ill equipped to do so, and there is a lack of information as to the type of spiritual care practices nurses use. This exploratory descriptive study surveyed nurses (N = 123) about their spiritual care practices and perceptions of effectiveness, followed by qualitative interviews with volunteers (n = 5) from the surv...

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...

Spirituality, as a basic characteristic of humans and a contributor to human health, is regarded as part of nursing practice. The purpose of this study was to examine how Tanzanian nurses understand spirituality and spiritual care. Using the qualitative method of interpretive description, fifteen registered nurses engaged in clinical practice in a Tanzanian hospital were recruited to participat...