TY - JOUR
T1 - Training for awareness of one's own spirituality
T2 - A key factor in overcoming barriers to the provision of spiritual care to advanced cancer patients by doctors and nurses
AU - Bar-Sela, Gil
AU - Schultz, Michael J.
AU - Elshamy, Karima
AU - Rassouli, Maryam
AU - Ben-Arye, Eran
AU - Doumit, Myrna
AU - Gafer, Nahla
AU - Albashayreh, Alaa
AU - Ghrayeb, Ibtisam
AU - Turker, Ibrahim
AU - Ozalp, Gulcin
AU - Kav, Sultan
AU - Fahmi, Rasha
AU - Nestoros, Sophia
AU - Ghali, Hasanein
AU - Mula-Hussain, Layth
AU - Shazar, Ilana
AU - Obeidat, Rana
AU - Punjwani, Rehana
AU - Khleif, Mohamad
AU - Can, Gulbeyaz
AU - Tuncel, Gonca
AU - Charalambous, Haris
AU - Faraj, Safa
AU - Keoppi, Neophyta
AU - Al-Jadiry, Mazin
AU - Postovsky, Sergey
AU - Al-Omari, Ma'An
AU - Razzaq, Samaher
AU - Ayyash, Hani
AU - Khader, Khaled
AU - Kebudi, Rejin
AU - Omran, Suha
AU - Rasheed, Osaid
AU - Qadire, Mohammed
AU - Ozet, Ahmet
AU - Silbermann, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2019/6/1
Y1 - 2019/6/1
N2 - Objective When patients feel spiritually supported by staff, we find increased use of hospice and reduced use of aggressive treatments at end of life, yet substantial barriers to staff spiritual care provision still exist. We aimed to study these barriers in a new cultural context and analyzed a new subgroup with unrealized potential for improved spiritual care provision: Those who are positively inclined toward spiritual care yet do not themselves provide it.Method We distributed the Religion and Spirituality in Cancer Care Study via the Middle East Cancer Consortium to physicians and nurses caring for advanced cancer patients. Survey items included how often spiritual care should be provided, how often respondents themselves provide it, and perceived barriers to spiritual care provision.Result We had 770 respondents (40% physicians, 60% nurses) from 1Middle Eastern countries. The results showed that 82% of respondents think staff should provide spiritual care at least occasionally, but 44% provide spiritual care less often than they think they should. In multivariable analysis of respondents who valued spiritual care yet did not themselves provide it to their most recent patients, predictors included low personal sense of being spiritual (p < 0.001) and not having received training (p = 0.02; only 22% received training). How developed a country is negatively predicted spiritual care provision (p < 0.001). Self-perceived barriers were quite similar across cultures.Significance of results Despite relatively high levels of spiritual care provision, we see a gap between desirability and actual provision. Seeing oneself as not spiritual or only slightly spiritual is a key factor demonstrably associated with not providing spiritual care. Efforts to increase spiritual care provision should target those in favor of spiritual care provision, promoting training that helps participants consider their own spirituality and the role that it plays in their personal and professional lives.
AB - Objective When patients feel spiritually supported by staff, we find increased use of hospice and reduced use of aggressive treatments at end of life, yet substantial barriers to staff spiritual care provision still exist. We aimed to study these barriers in a new cultural context and analyzed a new subgroup with unrealized potential for improved spiritual care provision: Those who are positively inclined toward spiritual care yet do not themselves provide it.Method We distributed the Religion and Spirituality in Cancer Care Study via the Middle East Cancer Consortium to physicians and nurses caring for advanced cancer patients. Survey items included how often spiritual care should be provided, how often respondents themselves provide it, and perceived barriers to spiritual care provision.Result We had 770 respondents (40% physicians, 60% nurses) from 1Middle Eastern countries. The results showed that 82% of respondents think staff should provide spiritual care at least occasionally, but 44% provide spiritual care less often than they think they should. In multivariable analysis of respondents who valued spiritual care yet did not themselves provide it to their most recent patients, predictors included low personal sense of being spiritual (p < 0.001) and not having received training (p = 0.02; only 22% received training). How developed a country is negatively predicted spiritual care provision (p < 0.001). Self-perceived barriers were quite similar across cultures.Significance of results Despite relatively high levels of spiritual care provision, we see a gap between desirability and actual provision. Seeing oneself as not spiritual or only slightly spiritual is a key factor demonstrably associated with not providing spiritual care. Efforts to increase spiritual care provision should target those in favor of spiritual care provision, promoting training that helps participants consider their own spirituality and the role that it plays in their personal and professional lives.
KW - Cancer
KW - Human development index
KW - Middle East
KW - Palliative care
KW - Spiritual care
KW - Spirituality
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85053130204&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S147895151800055X
DO - 10.1017/S147895151800055X
M3 - Article
C2 - 30187841
AN - SCOPUS:85053130204
SN - 1478-9515
VL - 17
SP - 345
EP - 352
JO - Palliative and Supportive Care
JF - Palliative and Supportive Care
IS - 3
ER -
