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The practice of pilgrimage in palliative care: a case study of Lourdes
1School of Health Science, University of Birmingham, 52 Pritchatts Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. a.k.lillie@bham.ac.uk
Aim:
To understand why healthcare professionals working in palliative care felt that pilgrimage to Lourdes could be a beneficial activity for the terminally ill.
Design:
A qualitative study using a phenomenological framework.
Methods:
Nine semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of hospice staff.
Results:
The reasons given for accompanying the terminally ill to Lourdes reflected the general aims of palliative care. They included improving the quality of life through the provision of a holiday, maintaining patient choice and autonomy and enabling inner-transformations. The communitas, or altered relationships, formed during the pilgrimage were also seen as beneficial.
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