Summary
Nurses’ and care workers’ experiences in the provision of spiritual care for people with dementia living in Norwegian nursing homes were explored, based on interviews following a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach to analysis.
Participants were unsure about spiritual care in many ways, but practical aspects of spiritual care actually included: (1) integration of spiritual care into care generally (physical touch, responsiveness and intuition) (2) care in terms of togetherness (being present and sensitivity in communication) and (3) facilitation of meaningful activities in everyday life (facilitating activities and meeting residents’ religious needs broadly).
“ …nurses in the current study admitted that they lacked experience and theoretical and practical knowledge about spiritual care, a response that is in line with the findings in other studies.” (p.7)
Further research into the spiritual care for people with dementia in nursing homes might expand the knowledge-base regarding how to teach nurses and carers to be more aware in the recognition of residents’ spiritual needs and their expressions of spirituality.
Reference
Ødbehr, LS. Kvigne, K. [and] Hauge, S. [et al] (2015). Spiritual care to persons with dementia in nursing homes; a qualitative study of nurses and care workers experiences. BMC Nursing. De 28th 2015, 14, 70. (Click here to view the PubMed abstract).
