Spiritual Pain and Spiritual Practices in Dying People (original) (raw)

Spiritual Care in Palliative Care: A Physician’s Perspective

Religions

Palliative care is defined as ‘an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illness. It prevents and relieves suffering through identification, assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual’. As a palliative care physician, I aim to explore and meet the needs of my patients and their loved ones. As I am specifically trained as a specialist in assessing and treating ‘pain and other physical symptoms’, in psychological, social and spiritual issues, I am a generalist. Two approaches are described to assess spiritual needs in palliative care: The first is adjoining the analytic concept of the four dimensions of palliative care: using an instrument, measuring spiritual well-being or spiritual needs, and measuring the quality of life, with specific attention to spiritual issues. Second, a holistic approach is promoted, with openness to the patients’ n...

Spirituality and its Relevance in Assistance to Patients under Palliative Care According to Experts

Hospice and Palliative Medicine International Journal, 2017

Background: Palliative care and spirituality are still very little discussed, but when studied and applied they become capable of alleviating some of the dimensions of suffering of man. Objective: To evaluate the understanding of health professionals about the concept of assistance to patients under palliative care and spirituality, as well as the application of techniques to alleviate the spiritual suffering for these patients. Method: This study used questionnaires in 91 professionals that work in the palliative care area (doctors, nurses and psychologists, chaplains), with at least three years of experience, regardless of gender. Results: The study shows a divergence in the work of professionals of the multidisciplinary staff, as well as the difficulty in addressing issues of spirituality. Conclusion: The palliative care and spirituality provide relief to many suffering patients, it is important to have health professionals aligned in concepts and prepared to use it in clinical practice.

The Influence of Spirituality and Religiosity in Palliative Care

European Journal of Social Sciences

In recent years there has been talk of “Palliative care”, an interdisciplinary approach of care, which focuses on supporting and relieving patients and their family environment in progressive and life-threatening illnesses. Its aim is to provide optimal comfort and quality of life, maintain hope and family cohesion despite the possibility of death and generally support patients and their families in the stages of pain, illness and mourning. The theological approach of palliative care, with the opening of new horizons of view of pain and illness and their management with the help of faith, are challenges for the age of human omnipotence. The factors “spirituality” and “religiosity” have begun in recent years to be taken into account in the multitude of biological, psychological and spiritual factors that affect the body’s psychosomatic response to illness and treatment. In the present study, we are trying to explore the influence of religious faith in the management of physical, psyc...

An Exploratory Study of Spiritual Care at the End of Life

The Annals of Family Medicine, 2008

PURPOSE Although spiritual care is a core element of palliative care, it remains unclear how this care is perceived and delivered at the end of life. We explored how clinicians and other health care workers understand and view spiritual care provided to dying patients and their family members.

Suffering and distress at the end-of-life

Psycho-Oncology, 2012

Objective: Suffering frequently occurs in the context of chronic and progressive medical illnesses and emerges with great intensity at end-of-life. A review of the literature on suffering and distress-related factors was conducted to illustrate the integrative nature of suffering in this context. We hope it will result in a comprehensive approach, centered in the patientfamily unit, which will alleviate or eliminate unnecessary suffering and provide well-being, when possible.

Spiritual, Religious, and Existential Aspects of Palliative Care

Journal of Palliative Medicine, 2005

Authors are asked to review information at the expert level for physicians practicing as a subspecialist in palliative medicine. Subsequent updates will focus on the most up-to-date literature that has been published since the last version.

Psychosocial and Spiritual Model as the Analgesic for Patients with Terminal Illness

European Journal of Medical Genetics and Clinical Biology, 2023

Terminal illnesses are quite painful and thus require proper attention both from the healthcare personnel and the family. The modern developments in therapeutic and care options in trying to reduce the effects of terminal illness have contributed a lot in the rise of the quality of health care among diagnosed patients. Through the procedure, a person may feel frightened and also anxious. This worry has been documented in patients with life-threatening diseases such as cancer, bubonic plague, or dynamic coronary infarction. Stress in between scientific research and belief are much more frequently revealed in western culture. Terminal illnesses are quite painful and thus require proper attention both from the healthcare personnel and the family. This work tries to figure out how people cope with terminal illnesses, emphasizing the importance of the psychosocial and spiritual model in helping patients who have been diagnosed with these kinds of diseases. It was found that only a small number of patients with terminal illness were receiving support from healthcare personnel. This of course suggests that there is limited availability of psychosocial personnel to handle the emotional and spiritual suffering of patients with terminal illness. In the absence of professional health services, patients may sought the support of family and friends. This work tries to figure out how people cope with terminal illnesses, emphasizing the importance of the psychosocial and spiritual model in helping patients who have been diagnosed with these kinds of diseases.

Spirituality in Patients at the End of Life—Is It Necessary? A Qualitative Approach to the Protagonists

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021

Spirituality is the most unknown aspect of palliative care despite being the need that is most altered in the last moments of life. Objective. To identify on the one hand the spiritual needs of patients who are at the end of life and on the other hand, the way in which nursing professionals can work to provide effective accompaniment in this process. Method. A qualitative study was conducted which applied different data collection techniques. This was done to describe the phenomenon from a holistic perspective in relation to experts’ perceptions of the competencies required by health professionals and palliative patients’ spiritual needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted within both populations. In order to analyze the qualitative data collected through interviews, discourse was analyzed according to the Taylor–Bodgan model and processed using Atlas.ti software. Results. Three well-differentiated lines of argument are extracted from the discourse in each of the groups, on t...

Meeting the spiritual needs of a dying person

Nova prisutnost, 2022

Most palliative care research confirms that spirituality has an important role and thus it is necessary to pay attention to the spiritual needs of dying even more. In this article, the author briefly presents the relationship between religion and spirituality, the meaning of different types of spirituality, and how everyone can live their own form of spirituality, as spirituality is a part of their life that they have chosen freely and consciously. In the following, he explores how understanding the spiritual needs of the dying person depends on understanding spirituality and its impact on human life, especially on health. In the last part, he presents the fundamental spiritual needs for anyone who wishes to pay attention to a dying man in the most integral way possible.

Therapeutical Intervention, Relaxation, Mental Images and Spirituality (RIME) for Spiritual Pain in Terminal Patients. A training program

TSW Holistic Health & Medicine, 2000

Therapeutic intervention involving the technique of Relaxation, Mental Images, and Spirituality (RIME) can foster the redefinition of spiritual pain in terminal patients. A training course was developed to instruct health care professionals in its use, and the results were followed up by evaluating reactions of professionals to its use in intervention with patients. Six subjects (a nurse, a doctor, three psychologists, and an alternative therapist), all skilled in palliative care, were invited to take part in the experience. They worked with 11 terminal patients in public hospitals of the cities of Campinas, Piracicaba, and São Paulo, located in Brazil. The theoretical basis for the study involves action research and phenomenology, and the results were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The analysis of the experience of the professionals revealed 5 categories and 15 subcategories. The analysis of the nature of spiritual pain revealed 6 categories and 11 subcategories. The administration of RIME revealed statistically significant differences (p < 0.0001), i.e., patients reported a greater level of well-being at the end than at the beginning of sessions, which suggests that RIME led to the redefinition of spiritual pain for these terminal patients. The training program proposed has shown itself to be effective in preparing health care professionals for the use of RIME intervention.