Ethics and Spiritual Care
Discuss how you believe spirituality impacts health as well as the role of the nurse in providing spiritual care. Be sure to give sound rationale to support your opinion.
No APA needed since this is a reflection.
This paper will be approximately 2 pages in length
Sample Paper
Introduction
Spirituality is the way of finding hope, meaning, inner peace and comfort in one’s life. Spirituality is linked to an individual’s purpose and sacred meaning in life, which defines the inner character of an individual (Tabei, Zarei and Joulaei, 2016). This is linked to an individual’s beliefs and thoughts rather than their appearance and physical surrounding. Many people have found spirituality through religion, connection with nature, and principles and values. Over the years, studies have connected beliefs to the sense of well-being. There are notions that spirituality contributes to well-being and promotes an individual’s healing. Therefore, this paper will focus on the idea that spirituality impacts health and the role of nurses facilitating spiritual care. There is a significant link between spirituality and mental and physical well-being.
The Impact of Spirituality on Health and Well-being
Spirituality has been linked to improved health outcomes, comprising coping abilities, more longevity, less anxiety and depression, and health-linked life quality (Tabei, Zarei and Joulaei, 2016). Ideally, spirituality is among the essential cultural factors that offer meaning and structure to behaviours, human values and experiences. When patients turn into their faith during healthcare problems, their anxieties reduce, and they have a positive outlook for a better quality of life. For instance, patients with advanced cancer may find comfort from their spiritual and religious beliefs, thus getting happier and satisfied with their lives. This is because spiritual beliefs help individuals cope with illness and face death. Spirituality also contributes to longevity and better health lifestyle choices since it affects an individual’s decisions, which translate to improved health outcomes (Hawthorne and Gordon, 2020). The positive feelings linked to spirituality can reduce blood pressure and stress levels, which can significantly influence lifestyle habits.
The poor emotional state has been linked to weak immune systems due to stressful feelings, being upset and anxiety. Therefore, spirituality improves an individual’s emotional state by promoting close friendship and family bonds that help an individual cope with the emotional, physical, and other life stressors. Linking to a spiritual community helps boost mental outlook and self-confidence, leading to an individual taking better care of themselves. Additionally, spirituality is linked to a strong support system that ensures that an individual’s changing needs are met, thus leading to a more comfortable and healthier life.
Role of Nurses in the Provision of Spiritual Care
Spiritual care has been a significant aspect of patient-centred care since spirituality has been considered supportive of well-being and health. Providing spiritual care in a universal, pluralistic, and culturally intertwined world is challenging since the healthcare providers are keen on the variance in religious and spiritual meaning orientations among patients (Nissen, Viftrup and Hvidt, 2021). Nursing plays an essential role in providing spiritual care through exploring feelings, thoughts and reactions concerning their illness and enabling them find purpose and meaning in adverse times. Nurses conduct a spiritual assessment that identifies the difference between the patient’s spiritual and religious needs, identifies the appropriate spiritual care approaches, and determines when to offer spiritual care (Rachel, Chiara, Robert and Francesco, 2019). They have to examine, diagnose, and respond to the patient’s spiritual needs. Nurses focus on spiritual nursing care to address the concerns, fears and suffering through instilling hope, alleviating anxiety and empowering patients to gain inner peace. Therefore, nurses offer spiritual care by attending to several significant spiritual elements.
Conclusion
Regardless of how it’s conceptualized, spirituality contributes to the well-being and health of individuals. Spirituality has been linked to positive health outcomes such as a greater tolerance to physical and emotional demands, healthy lifestyle choices and increased satisfaction with care provision. Nurses have greatly contributed to spiritual care by recognizing and meeting the spiritual needs of patients. This has been possible by being present with the patient, showing empathy, examining strengths and fears, and engagement to build confidence.
References
Hawthorne, D. M., & Gordon, S. C. (2020). The invisibility of spiritual nursing care in clinical practice. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 38(1), 147-155. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0898010119889704
Nissen, R. D., Viftrup, D. T., & Hvidt, N. C. (2021). The Process of Spiritual Care. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.674453/full
Rachel, H., Chiara, C., Robert, K., & Francesco, S. (2019). Spiritual care in nursing: an overview of the measures used to assess spiritual care provision and related factors amongst nurses. Acta Bio Medica: Atenei Parmensis, 90(Suppl 4), 44. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6625560/
Tabei, S. Z., Zarei, N., & Joulaei, H. (2016). The impact of spirituality on health. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304456467_The_Impact_of_Spirituality_on_Health
