Elsevier

Health Policy

Volume 122, Issue 4, April 2018, Pages 389-395
Health Policy

Stakeholder views on the role of spiritual care in Australian hospitals: An exploratory study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2018.02.003Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Stakeholders in Australia have positive views of the role of spiritual care in hospitals.

  • Stakeholders agree spiritual care positively affects wellbeing, health outcomes and patient experience.

  • Governance and policy structures are needed that clearly define the nature and scope of spiritual care.

  • Contribution of spiritual care to patient experience, health outcomes and wellbeing requires further exploration.

Abstract

Research increasingly demonstrates the contribution of spiritual care to patient experience, wellbeing and health outcomes. Responsiveness to spiritual needs is recognised as a legitimate component of quality health care. Yet there is no consistent approach to the models and governance of spiritual care across hospitals in Australia. This is consistent with the situation in other developed countries where there is increased attention to identifying best practice models for spiritual care in health. This study explores the views of stakeholders in Australian hospitals to the role of spiritual care in hospitals. A self-completion questionnaire comprising open and closed questions was distributed using a snowball sampling process. Analysis of 477 complete questionnaires indicated high levels of agreement with ten policy statements and six policy objectives. Perceived barriers to spiritual care related to: terminology and roles, education and training, resources, and models of care. Responses identified the issues to inform a national policy agenda including attention to governance and policy structures and clear delineation of roles and scope of practice with aligned education and training models. The inclusion of spiritual care as a significant pathway for the provision of patient-centred care is noted. Further exploration of the contribution of spiritual care to wellbeing, health outcomes and patient experience is invited.

Section snippets

Background

The international research exploring the contribution of spiritual care to patient experience, wellbeing and health outcomes continues to grow [[1], [2], [3]]. Correspondingly there has been increased attention given to identifying best practice models for the provision and governance of spiritual care in health care [[4], [5], [6], [7]]. While spiritual care is currently provided in many Australian hospitals, the models and governance guiding this care are varied, as are the capabilities and

Method

The working group established for the Australian national consensus conference developed a self-completion questionnaire comprising both open and closed questions. There were five sections to the questionnaire with 41 questions as outlined below.

Section 1 comprised introductory statements consisting of three general statements reflecting the growing body of research on the contribution of spiritual care to patient wellbeing, health outcomes and patient experience. Section 2 included 10 policy

Results

Data from 477 complete questionnaires were analysed.

Discussion

Wellbeing, health outcomes and patient experience are increasingly framing the discussions on quality of care in health [[16], [24], [25]]. Spiritual care is an essential aspect of these components clearly expressed through the paradigm of patient-centred care [[8], [26]], and this connection should be of interest to policy and decision-makers as they seek to improve the quality of patient care. Just how spiritual care positively affects these components is yet to be fully explored although

Conclusion

The stakeholders who participated in this study have positive views towards the role of spiritual care in hospitals. High levels of agreement with policy issue statements and policy objectives and the identified themes from free text responses all begin to identify the issues that need to be addressed to form a national policy agenda for the provision of professional spiritual care in Australian hospitals. These directions informed the June 2017 National Consensus Conference and may provide

Conflicts of interest

None.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr Bruce Rumbold and Dr Sandra Leggat for their supervision and feedback on this article.

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  • Cited by (11)

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    1

    The research for this publication was undertaken while completing a PhD at La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, 3000, Victoria, Australia.

    2

    Chief Executive Officer at Spiritual Health Victoria, 3/25 Gipps St, Collingwood, 3067, Victoria, Australia.

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