The concept of spirituality in a multidisciplinary team from a palliative care unit: A descriptive study

Abstract

Spirituality is a fundamental need in palliative care; however, the literature reports that there are inconsistencies in the definition of the terms “spirituality” and “religiosity,” which creates confusion in how to approach these issues with the patients. The present study was exploratory, with the aim to better understand the concept of spirituality and religiosity that a multidisciplinary team has in an oncology palliative care unit. The study was not experimental, cross-sectional and descriptive, with 34 health professionals. To obtain each concept, the natural semantic networks technique was used; using two stimulus words: spirituality and religiosity. Among the results, similarities between the two concepts were found, being both defined as faith, god, belief, love, religion, hope. However, there are differences that distinguish the concept of spirituality; defined as peace, soul, tranquility, harmony, meditation, kindness, spirit, and transcendence; from the concept of religiosity; defined as church, rituals, bigotry, spirituality, commitment, prayer, rules, and priest. Concluding that the concepts are confusing to the palliative care team, however they have personal resources to identify the spiritual needs although they lack of information and formal training to address this.