Smith Joanna, McSherry Wilfred
Lecturer, Child Health, School of Healthcare Studies, Baines Wing, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
J Adv Nurs. 2004 Feb;45(3):307-15. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02891.x.
If children are to be given the opportunity to develop to their full potential, fostering spiritual growth must be part of the process of caring for them. However, the meaningful application of spiritual care in everyday practice is fraught with difficulties. In addition to a lack of understanding of the term itself and of the expression of spirituality, in child health these difficulties are further compounded by the stage of a child's development.
The aims of this paper are to explore spiritual awareness in children by providing examples of the expression of spiritual beliefs in relation to the developmental stage of the child, and to identify the implications of the findings for clinical practice.
A model of concept development, using the cyclical process of 'significance', 'use' and 'application' was applied, and formed the philosophical underpinnings for the paper. This framework is particularly relevant to child health, as there is little evidence to draw on, particularly in relation to a child's spiritual needs.
Five primary research papers which met the inclusion criteria were reviewed, and provided examples of spiritual beliefs and their manifestations in children. The examples highlighted the diversity and complexity of children's thinking.
Health care professionals working with children should receive education about the spiritual needs of children. Assessment tools should be developed to facilitate detailed assessment of children's spiritual needs. Professionals need to listen to and communicate with children at different stages of development if spiritual distress is to be identified. Families' health care beliefs should be respected and considered when planning care.
若要让儿童有机会充分发挥其潜力，促进其精神成长就必须成为照料他们过程的一部分。然而，在日常实践中切实应用精神关怀充满困难。除了对这一术语本身以及精神性的表达缺乏理解之外，在儿童健康领域，这些困难因儿童的发育阶段而进一步加剧。
本文的目的是通过提供与儿童发育阶段相关的精神信仰表达示例来探索儿童的精神意识，并确定研究结果对临床实践的影响。
应用了一个概念发展模型，该模型采用“意义”“用途”和“应用”的循环过程，并构成了本文的哲学基础。这一框架与儿童健康特别相关，因为几乎没有证据可供借鉴，尤其是与儿童的精神需求相关的证据。
对五篇符合纳入标准的主要研究论文进行了综述，并提供了儿童精神信仰及其表现的示例。这些示例突出了儿童思维的多样性和复杂性。
从事儿童工作的医护人员应接受有关儿童精神需求的教育。应开发评估工具，以便于对儿童的精神需求进行详细评估。如果要识别出精神痛苦，专业人员需要在儿童发育的不同阶段倾听并与他们沟通。在规划护理时，应尊重并考虑家庭的医疗保健信仰。
