How Training Boosts The Spiritual Side Of Elder Care

How Training Boosts The Spiritual Side Of Elder Care

Workshops for elder care clinicians significantly improved their comfort and ability in identifying and helping address spiritual needs in their patients, research shows.

Many nursing home residents rely on spirituality or religion as a way of coping with health and social issues. But patients with advanced diseases say their spiritual needs often aren’t being met, and many of the nurses, social workers, and personal care assistants who help them feel unprepared to respond to these needs.

“These are people who are trained to help in a certain way, and they aren’t necessarily prepared for the religious or spiritual needs that arise,” says Wendy Cadge, a professor of sociology at Brandeis University.

Participants in the workshops learned to provide spiritual support appropriate within their professional roles, and to refer patients to chaplains when an expert level of care is called for in circumstances of spiritual distress or religious need.


 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Using actors to portray situations in which an individual or family member might benefit from spiritual support, the project provided a one-day training workshop for care providers, who took surveys before and after the workshop. On a scale of 1 to 5, the average score for perceived ability improved from an average of 3.1 to 4.5, while comfort improved from 2.8 to 4.2.

The researchers are now working to scale up their approach.

The study was a collaboration between Brandeis and Hebrew SeniorLife, a Boston-based senior care nonprofit. Support came from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.

Source: Brandeis University

books_health

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English Afrikaans Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Danish Dutch Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Malay Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese

follow InnerSelf on

facebook icontwitter iconyoutube iconinstagram iconpintrest iconrss icon

 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Friday, 28 July 2023 17:45

Respiratory viruses like influenza virus (flu), SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can make us sick by infecting our respiratory system, including the nose, upper...

Thursday, 27 July 2023 22:59

Loneliness can profoundly impact our physical and emotional health, and a new study from Tulane University has shed light on its significant role in the development of cardiovascular disease among...

Wednesday, 05 May 2021 08:15

While our immune system and antibiotics both do a great job of helping us fight life-threatening infections, the emergence of antibiotic resistance is quickly making it more difficult to cure...

Monday, 07 June 2021 08:07

Injury to the adult brain is all too common. A brain injury will often show up on brain scans as a well-defined area of damage. But often the changes to the brain extend far beyond the visible...

Sunday, 16 May 2021 14:24

The human body is an amazing thing, full of systems, organs, nerves, and vessels that work together in harmony. You’ve seen the body described as a machine, as a city, or even as a factory....

Saturday, 03 April 2021 08:08

Coffee, green tea and other caffeinated drinks are a popular way to start the morning. Not only does it give many people a much-needed boost, but caffeine can also help when it comes to fitness.

New Attitudes - New Possibilities

InnerSelf.comClimateImpactNews.com | InnerPower.net
MightyNatural.com | WholisticPolitics.com | InnerSelf Market
Copyright ©1985 - 2021 InnerSelf Publications. All Rights Reserved.