Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T04:28:21.484Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spirituality in the continuing education of healthcare professionals: An approach to palliative care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2019

Luciana Winterkorn Dezorzi ,
Marcia Mocellin Raymundo ,
José Roberto Goldim  and
Ceres Andréia Vieira de Oliveira
Luciana Winterkorn Dezorzi*
Affiliation:
Graduate Program in Medical Sciences of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, RS Center for Interdisciplinary Health and Spirituality Studies of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre Research Laboratory of Bioethics and Ethics in Science of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
Marcia Mocellin Raymundo
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory of Bioethics and Ethics in Science of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
José Roberto Goldim
Affiliation:
Graduate Program in Medical Sciences of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, RS Research Laboratory of Bioethics and Ethics in Science of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
Ceres Andréia Vieira de Oliveira
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory of Bioethics and Ethics in Science of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
*
Author for correspondence: Luciana Winterkorn Dezorzi, R.N., Ph.D., Research Laboratory of Bioethics and Ethics in Science, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Ramiro Barcelos Street, 2350, Room 183F - Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil93035903. E-mail: ldezorzi@hcpa.edu.br
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

A major barrier to the adoption of an approach that integrates spirituality into palliative care is the lack of preparation/education of healthcare professionals on the topic. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a continuing education activity for healthcare professionals addressing spirituality and spiritual care provision to patients and families within palliative care.

Method

We conducted an intervention study using a quantitative pre- and posttest design in a convenience sample of 52 healthcare professionals. Participants completed the Brazilian version of the Spiritual Care Competence Scale before and after attending a four-hour continuing education activity.

Result

Significant differences were observed between pre- and postintervention scores in the following dimensions: assessment and implementation of spiritual care, professionalization and improving the quality of spiritual care, personal support, and patient counseling (p < 0.001), and referral (p = 0.003).

Significance of results

The results of this study provide preliminary evidence of a positive effect of this educational intervention on the development of the competences needed by healthcare professionals to deliver a comprehensive approach centered on the patient/family, which includes attention to spirituality and spiritual care in the decision-making process.

Keywords

Spirituality in palliative careSpiritual careContinuing educationEducation of healthcare professionals
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 17 , Issue 6 , December 2019 , pp. 662 - 667
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balboni, MJ, Sullivan, A, Amobi, A, et al. (2013) Why is spiritual care infrequent at the end of life? Spiritual care perceptions among patients, nurses, and physicians and the role of training. Journal of Clinical Oncology 31(4):461–467. https://doi:10.1200/JCO.2012.44.6443.Google Scholar
Balboni, MJ, Sullivan, A, Enzinger, AC, et al. (2014) Nurse and physician barriers to spiritual care provision at the end of life. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 48(3), 400–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2013.09.020.Google Scholar
Balboni, TA, Fitchett, G, Handzo, GF, et al. (2017) State of the science of spirituality and palliative care research part II: Screening, assessment, and interventions. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 54, 441–453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2017.07.029.Google Scholar
Baldacchino, DR (2008) Teaching on the spiritual dimension in care to undergraduate nursing students: The content and teaching methods. Nurse Education Today 28(5), 550–562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2007.09.003.Google Scholar
Baldacchino, DR (2011) Teaching on spiritual care: The perceived impact on qualified nurses. Nurse Education in Practice 11(1), 47–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2010.06.008.Google Scholar
Baldacchino, DR (2015) Spiritual care education of health care professionals. Religions 6(2), 594–613. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6020594.Google Scholar
Barnett, KG and Fortin, AH (2006) Spirituality and medicine: A workshop for medical students and residents. Journal of General Internal Medicine 21(5), 481–485. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00431.x.Google Scholar
Bell, D, Harbinson, M, Toman, G, et al. (2010) Wholeness of healing: An innovative student-selected component introducing United Kingdom medical students to the spiritual dimension in healthcare. Southern Medical Journal 103(12), 1204–1209. https://doi.org/10.1097/SMJ.0b013e3181f968ce.Google Scholar
Bentur, N and Resnizky, S (2010) Challenges and achievements in the development of spiritual-care training and implementation in Israel. Palliative Medicine 24(8), 771–776. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0269216310380490.Google Scholar
Best, M, Butow, P, and Olver, I (2016a) Doctors discussing religion and spirituality: A systematic literature review. Palliative Medicine 30(4), 327–337. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216315600912.Google Scholar
Best, M, Butow, P, and Olver, I (2016b) Palliative care specialists’ beliefs about spiritual care. Support Care Cancer 24, 3295–3306. https://doi.org/10.1177/s00520-016-3135-0.Google Scholar
Campbell, DT and Stanley, JC (1963). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Cobb, MR, Puchalski, CM, and Rumbold, B (2012) Oxford textbook of spirituality in healthcare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, J (1988) Statistical Power of analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Dezorzi, LW, Raymundo, MM, and Goldim, JR (2016a) Espiritualidade na atenção a pacientes/famílias em cuidados paliativos: Um guia de apoio para profissionais da saúde (Spirituality in the attention for patients/families in palliative care: A support guide for health professionals). Porto Alegre: WWLivros. Available from https://issuu.com/nucleointerdisciplinardebioetica/docs/espiritualidade_na_aten____o_a_paci.Google Scholar
Dezorzi, LW, Raymundo, MM, and Goldim, JR (2016b) Religiões e Credos no Brasil: um guia breve para profissionais de saúde (Religions and creeds in Brazil: A brief guide for health professionals). Porto Alegre: WWLivros. Available from https://issuu.com/nucleointerdisciplinardebioetica/docs/religi__es_e_credos_no_brasil.Google Scholar
Dezorzi, LW, Raymundo, MM, Goldim, JR, et al. (2018) Cross-cultural validation of the Brazilian version of the spiritual care competence scale. Palliative and Supportive Care 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478951518000159.Google Scholar
Elhardt, E, Riedner, C, Paal, P, et al. (2013) Training health professionals in taking a spiritual history. Spiritual Care 1(1), 26–34.Google Scholar
Goldim, JR (comp.) (2007) Bioética e espiritualidade (Bioethics and spirituality). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS.Google Scholar
Goldim, JR (2009) Bioética complexa: uma abordagem abrangente para o processo de tomada de decisão (Complex bioethics: a comprehensive approach to the decision-making process). Revista da AMRIGS 53(1), 58–63. Available from https://www.ufrgs.br/bioetica/complexamrigs09.pdf.Google Scholar
IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) (2010) Demographic census 2010: General characteristics of the population. Available from: https://ww2.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/censo2010.Google Scholar
Kelly, E (2012) Competences in spiritual care education and training. In Oxford textbook of spirituality in healthcare. Cobb, MR, Puchalski, CM, Rumbold, B (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Koenig, H (2011) Spirituality and health research: Methods, measurement, statistics and resources. West Conshohocken, PA: Tempelton Press.Google Scholar
Lucchetti, G, Lucchetti, A, Puchalski, C (2012) Spirituality in medical education: Global reality? Journal of Religion and Health 51(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-011-9557-6.Google Scholar
Lucchetti, G, Oliveira, LR, Koenig, HG, et al. (2013). Medical students, spirituality and religiosity--results from the multicenter study SBRAME. BMC Medical Education 13, 162. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-13-162.Google Scholar
Moreira-Almeida, A, Pinsky, I, Zaleski, M, et al. (2010) Religious involvement and sociodemographic factors: A Brazilian national survey. Revista de Psiquatria Clínica 37(1), 12–15.Google Scholar
Paal, P, Roser, T, Frick, E (2014) Developments in spiritual care education in German speaking countries. BMC Medical Education 14, 112. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-14-112.Google Scholar
Puchalski, C, Ferrell, B, Virani, R, et al. (2009) Improving the quality of spiritual care as a dimension of palliative care: the report of the consensus conference. Journal of Palliative Medicine 12(10), 885–904. https://doi:10.1089/jpm.2009.0142.Google Scholar
Puchalski, CM, Vitillo, R, Hull, SK, et al. (2014) Improving the spiritual dimension of whole person care: Reaching national and international consensus. Journal of Palliative Medicine 17(6), 642–656. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2014.9427.Google Scholar
Ramondetta, LM, Sun, C, Surbone, A, et al. (2013) Surprising results regarding MASCC members’ beliefs about spiritual care. Supportive Care in Cancer 21(11), 2991–2998. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1863-y.Google Scholar
Richardson, P (2014) Spirituality, religion and palliative care. Annals of Palliative Medicine 3(3), 150–159. https://doi.org/10.3978/j.issn.2224-5820.2014.07.05.Google Scholar
Sepúlveda, C, Marlin, A, Yoshida, T, et al. (2002) Palliative care: perspective of the World Health Organization. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 24(2), 91–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-3924(02)00440-2.Google Scholar
Tomasso, CS, Beltrame, IL, and Lucchetti, G (2011) Knowledge and attitudes of nursing professors and students concerning the interface between spirituality, religiosity and health. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem 19(5), 1205–1213. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692011000500019.Google Scholar
van Leeuwen, R, Tiesinga, LJ, Middel, B, et al. (2008) The effectiveness of an educational programme for nursing students on developing competence in the provision of spiritual care. Journal of Clinical Nursing 17(20), 2768–2781. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02366.x.Google Scholar
van Leeuwen, R, Tiesinga, LJ, Middel, B, et al. (2009) The validity and reliability of an instrument to assess nursing competencies in spiritual care. Journal of Clinical Nursing 18(20), 2857–2869. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02594.x.Google Scholar
van Leeuwen, R and Akkerman, AS (2015) Nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care in different health care settings in the Netherlands. Religions 6(4), 1346–1357. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6041346.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2005) Definition of palliative care. Geneva: WHO. Available from www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/.Google Scholar
Yang, GM, Tan, YY, Cheung, YB, et al. (2017) Effect of a spiritual care training program for staff on patient outcomes. Palliative and Supportive Care 15(4), 434–443. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478951516000894.Google Scholar