What Hinders Spiritual Care?

Abstract

Both patients and clinicians agree that spiritual care occurs infrequently. This chapter explores possible reasons why spiritual care is infrequently provided by clinicians by focusing on six hypotheses using empirical evidence from a Boston-based research study of patients, nurses, and physicians in the context of serious illness. Evidence from the study eliminates several hypotheses about why clinicians infrequently provide spiritual care. Most notably, the study found that clinicians who had not received spiritual care training had significantly higher odds of not providing spiritual care. These findings emphasize the importance of training as being a primary reason why clinicians infrequently provide spiritual care within serious illness.