What Is Spiritual Advice in Hospice Care?
Hospice professionals provide care to patients to help relieve their physical symptoms and make them more comfortable in the end-of-life stages. Nurses administer medications and physicians order important diagnostic services. But hospice also provides care that caters to one’s mental and spiritual state. Hospice spiritual care is given during the end-of-life stages by professional counselors to help one find meaning and come to terms with their situation.
What Do We Mean by Spirituality?
For some people, spirituality is closely connected to their religion. But spirituality is not the same as religious beliefs. Even if you don’t identify with any particular religion, spiritual issues can affect anyone’s mental state causing a range of emotions. There is no solid definition of spirituality because it can mean different things to different people. For some people, spirituality might be a goal of finding purpose in their lives. For others, it might be about finding their role in society, forming meaningful relationships with others, or simply connecting with nature.
How Do We Address Spiritual Needs?
Even if you’re not in hospice care, spiritual needs affect everyone. Our spiritual needs change as we age and when different circumstances happen in our lives. Satisfying our spiritual needs helps us find meaning in life, peace, a feeling of belonging, and love. People do different things to find spiritual gratification, and some examples might include:
Taking on hobbies
Spending time in nature
Strengthening relationships with others
Following religious practices and customs
What you do to satisfy your own spiritual needs depends on what is most important to you in life.
Spiritual Care Needs During End-of-Life
When someone is suddenly diagnosed with a terminal illness, it can come as a shock that disrupts your spirituality. A flood of new emotions and a flurry of next steps can negatively affect patients. They may need help spiritually with the following:
The need to settle unfinished business
How to repair broken relationships
Grieving over their own impending death
Accepting what is happening as they enter the end stages of life
Reflecting on their entire life
Making sense of their situation within the bounds of their religion
Arranging for spiritual or religious practices during their funeral
Spiritual Distress Can Affect Us Physically
Spiritual distress is seen as a state of suffering, whereas being at peace is at the heart of spiritual well-being. When a patient’s spiritual needs aren’t being met, it can greatly lower their quality of life. It may also cause symptoms such as increased or decreased sleep and loss of appetite. Research suggests spiritual distress can even increase suffering for patients in the end stages of life.
Some of the signs of spiritual distress in the terminally ill include:
Feeling depressed, scared, or worried about their impending future
Fear of being alone as they exit the world
Being withdrawn and not wanting company
Not wanting to communicate with others
Seeking meaning for why this is happening to them
Wondering how they will be remembered
Refusing care
Feeling they have no control over their situation
Spotting Spiritual Distress
Your hospice team members are there to help you discern whether your loved one needs extra preventative care measures and intense care when needed. Hospice nurses are well-versed and experienced in the end-of-life stages and their advice can be very helpful. Communication with the hospice team is key as the patient’s care plan needs to adapt to new circumstances. As one of the most trusted people in the patient’s life, communicating with the patient about their spiritual needs directly is also a good tactic.
Patients might not know anything about spirituality or what it means, so try some of the following spiritual assessment tools.
Encourage them to be open and talk about how they are feeling.
Look for clues about struggling with spiritual issues. Some clues might include conversations about fearing the unknown and being alone, as well as searching for the meaning of their life.
Start open-ended conversations about what is important to them.
If the patient is religious, seek the help of trained chaplains to assess their spiritual needs.
How Hospice Provides Spiritual Care
Every hospice healthcare professional or social worker can provide spiritual care for hospice patients. They not only help with medications, wound care, and household duties, but they are available to hold meaningful conversations with the patient. Hospice professionals are empathetic and aim to improve the patient’s quality of life in every humanly possible way. They are people with feelings who sympathize with the terminally ill. They are present to provide simple comforts such as human companionship during difficult times.
While hospice workers give spiritual care at its basics anytime, hospice also provides spiritual care through trained counselors, psychiatrists, chaplains, faith leaders, and other specialist professionals. These professionals can be called in at the patient’s request. Patients do not need to be religious to receive these services.
Hospice Spiritual Care for the Family
End-of-life hospice spiritual care caters to the whole patient, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Hospice care also provides spiritual and bereavement services to family members of the patient that can last for extended periods after their loved one has passed. Bereavement therapy helps family members deal with the loss of their loved one and come to terms with what the future holds without them. Bereavement therapy encourages the expression of the strong feelings associated with the death of a loved one.
End-of-life hospice spiritual care is just one of the many benefits that hospice provides to patients to raise their quality of life. The entire hospice team is there to lend a helping hand from getting started with service to help finding resources, to assistance during medical crises.
Contact us today to start your free consultation. A & H Hospice serves the areas of Orange County, Los Angeles County, and surrounding counties in Southern California.