Preventing spiritual distress in the dying client

1. Nurses want to provide holistic care to all clients. Viewing spiritual development as a part of human growth and development is appropriate and essential to nursing practice. 2. Nursing care that is effective in maintaining the spiritual integrity of clients nearing death can be effective if placed within a theoretical framework. 3. Levels of spiritual development coupled with the transitional phases of the dying process lead to accurate assessments of clients. In turn, nursing strategies that are selected as a result of such theoretically based assessments are likely to be effective in preventing spiritual distress.