Introduction
Spiritual care is a practice of aiding people in the recognition and acceptance of spirituality and addressing the questions of one’s meaning in life, legacy, purpose, hope, and faith. The role of spiritual care in nursing is both recognized and undermined. There is certain skepticism in the discussion of the effectiveness of spirituality. However, the research in nursing practices for cancer patients suggests that the efficacy of spiritual care is significant. The five research papers exploring spiritual care’s effects on patients with cancer suggests a positive effect on patients without marginal difference in age and gender. In this paper, five peer-reviewed journal articles would review to demonstrate the effectiveness of spiritual care and indicate the methodology explored to highlight the significance of spirituality in nursing practices.
Research
Joo and Kim 2020
The research by Joo and Kim (2020) focused on the spiritual care analysis among elderly patients hospitalized with cancer. The participants were 50 people whose ages exceeded 65 years (Joo and Kim, 2020). They were divided into two groups: experimental and control groups. The first group received spiritual care for half an hour three times over three days. The individuals were interviewed before and after the experiment to analyze the changes in spiritual well-being (Joo and Kim, 2020). Before the experiment, each group indicated similar general and disease-related characteristics, anxiety, and spiritual health conditions. After the experiment, the test group indicated a significant increase in spiritual well-being and a decrease in anxiety in contrast to the control group (Joo and Kim, 2020).
Torabi et al., 2018
According to Torabi et al. (2018), spiritual care among adolescents is effective. The research followed a single-group, quasi-experimental, pre-/poststudy design with 32 adolescent participants. Torabi et al. (2018) argue that spiritual health is significantly different before and after the intervention. However, the follow-up condition of the patients suggests no marginal difference in well-being, indicating the need for continuity of care practices.
Sajadi et al., 2018
The article by Sajadi et al. (2018) analyzed the effect of spiritual counseling on Iranian female cancer patients. The methodology utilized for the research explores the difference between two groups consisting of 42 women with and without an 8-week counseling intervention. The results were collected using Paloutzian and Ellison’s Spiritual Well-Being Scale (Joo and Kim, 2020). Consequently, the participants illustrate significant improvements in the spiritual well-being of the experimental group.
Moosavi et al. 2019
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of spiritual care on cancer patients and oncology nurses. The research collected data from the viewpoints of the patients, their families, the nurses, and other healthcare team members. In 2016–2017, the current qualitative investigation was carried out utilizing traditional content analysis (Moosavi et al., 2019). The 18 participants were subjected to semi-structured in-depth interviews where the data were gathered (Moosavi et al., 2019). One typical outcome of spiritual care was the patient and the nurse finding peace (Moosavi et al., 2019). It enables the nurse to finally feel inner pleasure while helping the patient feel at ease and peace.
Seo et al., 2019
Understanding the nature and significance of the experience of cancer patients receiving spiritual nursing was the aim of this study. From April to June 2019, participants were interviewed in-depth one-on-one (Seo et al., 2019). This research involved eight patients from a single Christian hospital. The Collaizzi phenomenological approach was used to gather and analyze cyclical data (Seo et al., 2019). Four themes emerged from the experiences of cancer patients who received spiritual care: odd spiritual care in the face of longing; feeling of surprising changes; spiritual compassion leading to trust; and transition to spiritual healing (Seo et al., 2019).
Analysis
Each of the five chosen articles suggests that spiritual care’s effectiveness in improving well-being and reducing anxiety is eminent. The research by Joo and Kim (2020), Torabi et al. (2018), Sajadi et al. (2018), and Moosavi (2019) utilized a similar approach where an experimental group with the spiritual intervention was compared to the control group. The difference lies in the number of participants, data collection method, location, age, and gender. Seo et al. (2019) focused on the qualitative assessment of the participants’ condition via interviews to which the researchers observed four critical responses. Nevertheless, they were mostly positive about the improvement of spiritual well-being.
Conclusion
In conclusion, spiritual care among cancer patients is an essential tool for improving the quality of life-related to spiritual health. This suggests the significance and effectiveness of spiritual practices on critical patients. Simultaneously, removing doubt is often considered among people who skeptically view such practices. Perhaps, recommendations could be made for the introduction of awareness increase as the spiritual condition is closely associated with the mental health of the patients and may have a detrimental effect on the effectiveness of the treatments.
Reflection
In this assignment, I learned the significant effectiveness of spiritual care, which addressed my doubts about the procedure. At the same time, I familiarized myself with the methodology often utilized in exploring nursing care techniques. This assignment prompted me to evaluate necessary information from texts and elicit significant details. I now consider spiritual care a significant part of my nursing practice and would like to incorporate it in each applicable instance. I experienced an ‘a-ha” moment after finding the similarity of the research results despite the cultural differences in the experiment locations. However, I think a stronger connection between the cultural differences in spiritual care needs to be addressed.
References
Joo, Y. S., & Kim, H. (2020). Effects of spiritual nursing intervention on spiritual well-being and anxiety in elders with cancer.Journal of Korean Gerontological Nursing, 22(2), 95–104.
Moosavi, S., Rohani, C., Borhani, F., & Akbari, M. E. (2019). Consequences of spiritual care for cancer patients and oncology nurses: A qualitative study. Asia-Pacific Journal of Oncology Nursing, 6(2), 137–144. Web.
Sajadi, M., Niazi, N., Khosravi, S., Yaghobi, A., Rezaei, M., & Koenig, H. G. (2018). Effect of spiritual counseling on spiritual well-being in Iranian women with cancer: A randomized clinical trial.Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 30, 79–84.
Seo, E. Y., Kwon, S., Kim, Y., & Han, A. L. (2019). Experience of cancer patients receiving spiritual nursing care in one Christian General Hospital. Asian Oncology Nursing, 19(3), 179.
Torabi, F., Rassouli, M., Nourian, M., Borumandnia, N., Shirinabadi Farahani, A., & Nikseresht, F. (2018). The effect of spiritual care on adolescents coping with cancer.Holistic Nursing Practice, 32(3), 149–159.