Coordinator of Pastoral Care and Education, New York Presbyterian Hospital - Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Curr Opin Support Palliat Care. 2012 Jun;6(2):242-6. doi: 10.1097/SPC.0b013e328353811c.
As spiritual care has increasingly been considered an integral component of a healthcare treatment plan, spiritual care practitioners have been encouraged to adopt an evidence-based orientation, just as evidence-based practice is encouraged in every other aspect of healthcare. Though the notion of 'evidence-based spiritual care' is still developing, increasingly research is conducted in order to provide an evidence base to the practice of spiritual care. This article reviews spirituality and spiritual care literature from June 2010 to December 2011 that employ empirical research methods.
The majority of patient-focused studies concentrate on oncology and palliative care patients. In the review period, studies of care giver perceptions and experience came from multiple disciplines, including medicine, nursing, and chaplaincy. A discrepancy exists between the provision of spiritual care and the theoretical commitment of practitioners to offer such care. Practitioners continue to view spiritual care as part of their role to a greater extent than they provide it. This is often attributed to the absence of consensus in the field regarding the definition of spirituality, a lack of clarity of disciplinary role, and inadequate education for nurses and doctors about spiritual care. Research has further indicated that care givers' explorations of their own spirituality correlate with the provision of spiritual care. Although historically spiritual care has been most integrated into the care of palliative and oncology patients, researchers are developing and testing spiritual care assessment tools with other medical populations. In addition, they are evaluating these tools in diverse religious, cultural and national contexts.
Conceptual analysis combined with empirical study of care giver understandings of spiritual care will assist in developing clarity and consensus about the definition of spirituality and spiritual care. Investigation and conceptualization of interdisciplinary roles and provision of spiritual care is needed for optimizing collaborative care. More knowledge is needed about how to effectively teach spiritual care.
随着精神关怀日益被视为医疗保健计划的一个组成部分，精神关怀从业者被鼓励采用循证导向，就像在医疗保健的各个方面都鼓励循证实践一样。尽管“循证精神关怀”的概念仍在发展中，但越来越多的研究是为了为精神关怀实践提供循证基础。本文综述了 2010 年 6 月至 2011 年 12 月期间采用实证研究方法的精神性和精神关怀文献。
大多数以患者为中心的研究集中在肿瘤学和姑息治疗患者上。在审查期间，来自多个学科的护理人员的看法和经验的研究，包括医学、护理和牧师。在提供精神关怀和从业者提供这种关怀的理论承诺之间存在差异。从业者继续将精神关怀视为其角色的一部分，比他们提供的要多。这通常归因于该领域缺乏对精神性的定义共识、缺乏明确的学科角色，以及护士和医生在精神关怀方面的教育不足。研究进一步表明，护理人员对自己精神性的探索与提供精神关怀相关。尽管历史上精神关怀最常融入姑息治疗和肿瘤学患者的护理中，但研究人员正在为其他医疗人群开发和测试精神关怀评估工具。此外，他们正在不同的宗教、文化和国家背景下评估这些工具。
概念分析与护理人员对精神关怀理解的实证研究相结合，将有助于对精神性和精神关怀的定义达成明确和共识。需要对跨学科角色进行调查和概念化，并提供精神关怀，以优化协作护理。需要更多关于如何有效教授精神关怀的知识。
