Spirituality is a humanistic approach that relates to how people seek as well as disclose significance and purpose in their lives. The above can be shown in religious forms such as prayers, non-religious forms, and values that include showing love and presence. Spirituality could play a significant role in aiding persons as well as society to survive and recover from calamities (Haynes et al., 2017). This paper examines whether spirituality plays a role in easing a disaster’s effects and community health nurses’ role in these cases.
Disasters often cause considerable challenges within the health sector in service delivery. They make people associate with spirituality as they relate disasters to suffering and death. In the wake of a disaster, people relook at the nature and purpose of their existence. In collaboration with other medical staff, community nurses ought to guarantee the affected individuals’ emotional and physical well-being (Haynes et al., 2017). Disasters are among the most traumatic events in people’s lives, often leaving a community devastated. Their sudden and intense loss has a staggering and long-lasting effect. The emotional well-being of families and affected individuals during and after a disaster is very important in their physical recovery. Assisting people to rely on their spiritual outlook as a source of strength, hope, and healing aids recovery.
Spiritual help and care are given as psychological first aid through respectful, sensitive, and appropriate support to individuals affected by these traumatic events. Community health nurses undergo specific training to assist those in need during and after disasters. They reinforce survivors’ confidence, support grieving individuals, and uplift first responders (Newton & McIntosh, 2009). Nurses, therefore, play a crucial role as they provide the necessary spiritual support to families and communities through ethical solutions.
Much as spirituality assists during recovery, people struggle to find meaning in their losses and trauma. Some may begin to doubt their spirituality, resulting in psychological and spiritual issues. Survivors’ ability to cope and find meaning during recovery is much influenced by their spiritual and religious beliefs and values (Lalani, 2019). A helpless person feels insecure, which may result in depression and spiritual distress. Nurses need to understand behaviors and actions and plan appropriate interventions to promote resilience in the recovery phase.
References
Haynes, W. C., Van Tongeren, D. R., Aten, J., Davis, E. B., Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., Boan, D. & Johnson, T. (2017). The meaning as a buffer hypothesis: Spiritual meaning attenuates the effect of disaster-related resource loss on posttraumatic stress. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 9(4), 446–453.
Lalani, N. (2019). Spiritual distress among novice nurses during role transition at a university teaching hospital in Pakistan. Nursing Practice Today.
Newton, A., & McIntosh, D. (2009). Associations of general religiousness and specific religious beliefs with coping appraisals in response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 12(2), 129-146.