Providing spiritual support: a job for all hospice professionals

This research examines spirituality as an aspect of professional practice. A questionnaire on spirituality was sent in 1991 to the hospice directors in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The findings strongly indicate that spirituality is important in the hospice setting and plays a prominent role in the treatment of patients. Also, hospice programs were found to be supportive of the spiritual component of care. The spiritual approaches used by the respondents were the more traditionally religious ones such as listening to the patient talk about God or referring to clergy. Approaches such as meditation or guided imagery, which are not necessarily related to religion, were used less frequently. Clergy in the study placed greater importance on spirituality in hospice work and used more traditionally religious approaches than did non-clergy. While some professional caregivers choose to leave spiritual matters to clergy, the findings reveal that many non-clergy hospice professionals are assisting patients with spiritual concerns.