Developing religious and healthcare-sensitive palliative care guidelines for Muslim inpatients: A scoping review

This scoping review synthesised evidence on religious and healthcare considerations in delivering palliative care to Muslim inpatients in tertiary hospital settings. The aim was to inform the development of Islamic-sensitive palliative care guidelines tailored to Ghana and other Sub-Saharan African contexts.

The review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and was reported in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR checklist. A comprehensive three-step search strategy was implemented across ProQuest, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted data. A framework synthesis was conducted using Saunders' Total Pain Model and the WHO Health System Responsiveness Framework.

Of 706 records screened, 45 studies were included. Findings revealed five key themes: (1) Religious coping practices such as prayer and Qur'an recitation served as essential strategies for spiritual and emotional relief; (2) Family governance shaped care decisions, often at the cost of patient autonomy; (3) Imams played pivotal roles in spiritual care and ethical mediation, though their involvement lacked institutional consistency; (4) System-level barriers including lack of Islamic-sensitive policies, and inadequate training compromised compassionate care; and (5) Sub-Saharan Africa was significantly underrepresented, limiting evidence transferability to African contexts.

Spiritual care is essential to holistic palliative care for Muslim patients. The development of Islam-sensitive palliative guidelines and the structured integration of imams into care teams is urgently needed. Greater investment in African-led research is critical.