Components of Successful Spiritual Care
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Components of Successful Spiritual Care Elizabeth Sager1 Accepted: 10 September 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The quantifiable health benefits of spiritual practice and religious community have inspired a movement toward addressing religion within health care and medical education, yet biomedical professionals still often avoid this topic (Giordano and Engebretson in Explore 2(3):216--225, 2006; Post et al. in Ann Intern Med 132(7):578, 2000). This is largely due to a lack of clarity on how to ethically engage with diverse spiritual practices and maintain professional boundaries regarding spiritual care. However, a majority of patients desire increased incorporation of spirituality in medical discussions, indicating a deficit in care that must be addressed (Best et al. in Patient Educ Couns 98(11):1320–1328, 2015; Zaidi in AMA J Ethics 20(7), 2018). In this article, I clarify what constitutes successful spiritual care by identifying its key components and major challenges. I then make recommendations for ethically mindful, comprehensive spiritual care and consider potential next steps including structural changes that prioritize compassion and empathy in medicine. Keywords Spirituality · Medicine · Primary care · Patient–physician relationship
Introduction Perhaps the largest problem with the argument that physicians should avoid talking about religion is the fact that they engage in discussions steeped in spiritual meaning on a daily basis. Spiritual care is often framed as an additional checkbox to add to the already long list of physician responsibilities, but spiritual experiences of illness and health are a constant presence in medicine. The spiritual journey gives meaningful context to debilitation, dying, suffering, caring, and healing; benefiting both patients and physicians in meaning-making and in coping with emotionally taxing aspects of medicine (Balboni and Peteet 2017; Muldoon and King 1995; Post et al. 2000). Choosing to acknowledge that even in our largely secularized health care
* Elizabeth Sager [email protected] 1
Northwestern University, 633 Clark St, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
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Journal of Religion and Health
system spirituality is implicit within each physician–patient relationship can allow for a healing level of trust and understanding to emerge. The goals of medicine outlined by the Hastings Center are maintaining health, reducing pain and suffering, curing and caring for those who are sick, and preventing premature death (Hanson and Callahan 1999). These goals can be expanded beyond the body to encompass all aspects of health, including emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Acknowledgment of the holistic individual and the many facets of their health is therefore an ethical imperative. A person is not truly being cared for if their spiritual needs–and the large role they play in health-impacting decisions–are ignored. Acknowledgment of the connection of spiritual needs and beliefs to
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