“I Often Just Don’t Know what to Say!”: Variations in Multidisciplinary Palliative Care Clinicians’ Confidence and Needs Related to Spiritual Care

Abstract

Background Spiritual care is a core component of high-quality palliative care, yet gaps exist in spiritual care provision. Understanding clinicians’ levels of confidence around spiritual care and their perceptions of necessary knowledge/skills to enhance their ability to provide spiritual care is foundational for improving delivery of spiritual care in practice. Objectives To understand confidence levels with providing spiritual care and perceived needs in relation to the provision of spiritual care among palliative clinicians (nurses, social workers, chaplains). Design N = 260 clinicians participating in interprofessional communication and end-of-life care training programs completed a structured survey. Measurements Clinicians responded to 42 closed-ended questions assessing their confidence in engaging in spiritual care across 6 dimensions, and one open-ended question: “What areas of knowledge or skill would best help to improve your ability to provide spiritual care across diverse populations?” Results Findings reveal varied levels of confidence with spiritual care across dimensions. Chaplains reported the highest levels of confidence compared with nurses and social workers. Key areas of knowledge/skills to improve spiritual care provision were: (1) Training and support for clinicians in spiritual care; (2) Strategies for providing spiritual care to patients from diverse cultural and/or religious backgrounds; (3) Better understanding of specific populations and contexts that may affect spiritual care provision; and (4) Clinicians’ personal growth & practices to improve spiritual care. Conclusions Additional support with spiritual care provision is needed, especially among spiritual care generalists. A focus on culturally attuned care is needed, honoring unique patient contexts and centering patient and family priorities.