Spiritual Care in Palliative Health
Summary
Spiritual care is a multidimensional component of palliative health that seeks to address the existential, emotional and transcendent needs of patients facing life-limiting illness. It encompasses the recognition of patients’ search for meaning, purpose and connectedness, as well as support for coping with fear, suffering and grief. Delivered by a multidisciplinary team including nurses, physicians, chaplains and allied health professionals, spiritual care integrates narrative, ritual and therapeutic interventions to preserve dignity, enhance quality of life and foster holistic well-being. Globally, guidelines now recommend spiritual assessment as a routine aspect of person-centred care, yet implementation varies widely. Research underscores the value of validated assessment tools, competency-based education and tailored interventions such as legacy projects and life-review, all of which contribute to relief of spiritual distress and promote psychosocial adaptation in diverse cultural contexts.
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Spiritual Care in Palliative Health publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in spiritual care in palliative health across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Spiritual care: Person-centred support addressing existential, religious and transcendent dimensions of health.
Palliative care: Comprehensive health care approach focusing on symptom relief and quality of life for patients with life-limiting illness.
Dignity therapy: Structured psychotherapeutic intervention enabling patients to reflect on life’s meaning, record messages for loved ones and reinforce self-worth.
Spiritual well-being: Subjective sense of harmony, purpose and connectedness across personal, communal and transcendent domains.
References
- Spiritual needs in Denmark: a population-based cross-sectional survey linked to Danish national registers. The Lancet Regional Health - Europe (2023).
- Dignity in Medicine: Definition, Assessment and Therapy. Current Psychiatry Reports (2024).
- An EAPC white paper on multi-disciplinary education for spiritual care in palliative care. BMC Palliative Care (2020).
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