Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care

Korean Society for Hospice and Palliative Care (한국호스피스완화의료학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Comparison of the Spiritual Needs of Terminal Cancer Patients and Their Primary Family Caregivers

  • Received : 2019.12.19
  • Accepted : 2020.02.09
  • Published : 2020.06.01
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine differences in Spiritual Interests Related to Illness Tool (SpIRIT) scores and the degree of spiritual needs (SNs) between patients with terminal cancer and their primary family caregivers and to compare spiritual needs between them. Methods: The study participants were inpatients with terminal cancer and their primary family caregivers at 40 national hospice centers. The final analysis included 120 SpIRIT surveys from patients and 115 from family members, and 99 SNs questionnaires from patients and 111 from family members. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, the t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: There were no significant between-group differences in SpIRIT scores or SNs. The SpIRIT sub-dimensions that ranked high for both patients and primary family caregivers were "maintaining positive perspective", "loving others", and "finding meaning". The SNs sub-dimensions were ranked identically in both groups, in the order of "love and connection", "hope and peace", "meaning and purpose", respectively. In both groups, the recognition of the importance of spiritual matters and religion were major factors influencing SpIRIT scores and SNs. Conclusion: The SpIRIT scores and degree of SNs of patients with terminal cancer and their primary family caregivers were found to be very closely related, and the needs for coherence and meaning were greater than religious needs. When providing spiritual care for patients with terminal illness, family members should also be considered, and their prioritization of spiritual needs and the importance of spiritual matters and religion shall be taken into account.

Keywords

References

  1. Borneman T, Brown-Saltzman K. Meaning in illness. In: Ferrell BR, Coyle N, Paice JA, eds. Oxford textbook of palliative nursing. 4th ed. New York:Oxford University Press;2015. p. 554-63.
  2. McClement SE. Spiritual issues in palliative medicine. In: Cherny NI. Fallon MT, Kaasa S, Portenoy RK, Currow DC, eds. Oxford textbook of palliative medicine. 5th ed. New York:Oxford University Press;2015. p. 1060-6.
  3. Frankl VE. Man's search for meaning. Boston:Beacon Press;c2006.
  4. Delgado-Guay MO. Spiritual care. In: Bruera E. Higginson I, von Gunten CF, Morita T, eds. Textbook of palliative medicine and supportive care. 2nd ed. Boca Raton:CRC Press;2016. p. 1055-62.
  5. Cho JH. Spiritual needs of family caregivers of patients with cancer [master's thesis]. Seoul: Yonsei Univ.; 2008. Korean.
  6. Hermann CP. The degree to which spiritual needs of patients near the end of life are met. Oncol Nurs Forum 2007;34:70-8.
  7. Taylor EJ. Prevalence and associated factors of spiritual needs among patients with the cancer and family caregivers. Oncol Nurs Forum 2006;33:729-35. https://doi.org/10.1188/06.ONF.729-735
  8. Cobb M, Puchalski CM, Rumbold B. Spirituality in healthcare, Korean translation. Seoul:The Catholic University of Korea Press;2016.
  9. Kang KA, Kim DB. Spiritual care. In: Korean Society for Hospice and Palliative Care. Textbook of hospice & palliative care. Paju:Koonja;2018. p. 449-67.
  10. Doyle N, Henry R. Holistic needs assessment: rationale and practical implementation. Cancer Nurs Pract 2014;13:16-21.
  11. Yong J, Kim J, Han SS, Puchalski CM. Development and validation of a scale assessing spiritual needs for Korean patients with cancer. J Palliat Care 2008;24:240-6.
  12. Kang KA, Choi YS, Kim YJ. Reliability and validity of an instrument assessing spiritual needs of families of terminal cancer patients. Korean J Hosp Palliat Care 2018;21:144-51.
  13. Hocker A, Krull A, Koch U, Mehnert A. Exploring spiritual needs and their associated factors in an urban sample of early and advanced cancer patients. Eur J Cancer Care 2014;23:786-94. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.12200
  14. Ross L, Austin J. Spiritual needs and spiritual support preferences of people with end-stage heart failure and their carers: implications for nurse managers. J Nurs Manag 2015;23:87-95. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12087
  15. Sinclair S, Chochinov HM. Communicating with patients about existential and spiritual issues: SACR-D work. Prog Palliat Care 2012;20:72-8.
  16. Darby K, Nash P, Nash S. Understanding and responding to spiritual and religious needs of young people with cancer. Cancer Nurs Pract 2014;13:32-7.
  17. Hatamipour K, Rassouli M, Yaghmaie F, Zendedel K, Majd HA. Spiritual needs of cancer patients: a qualitative study. Indian J Palliat Care 2015;21:61-7.
  18. Tan H, Wilson A, Olver L, Barton C. The family meeting addressing spiritual and psychosocial needs in a palliative care setting: usefulness and challenges to implementation. Prog Palliat Care 2011;19:66-72.
  19. Keall R, Clayton JM, Butow P. How do Australian palliative care nurses address existential and spiritual concerns? Facilitators, barriers and strategies. J Clin Nurs 2014;23:3197-205. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12566
  20. Nixon A, Narayanasamy A. The spiritual needs of neuro-oncology patients from patients' perspective. J Clin Nurs 2010;19:2259-370. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2009.03112.x
  21. Draper P. An integrative review of spiritual assessment: implications for nursing management. J Nurs Manag 2012;20:970-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12005
  22. Hodge DR. Administering a two-stage spiritual assessment in healthcare settings: a necessary component of ethical and effective care. J Nurs Manag 2015;23:27-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12078
  23. Pett MA, Lackey NR, Sullivan JJ. Making sense of factor analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage, cop.;2003. p.167-206.
  24. Blaber M, Jone J, Willis D. Spiritual care: which is the best assessment tool for palliative settings? Int J Palliat Nurs 2015;21:430-8.