Premium
Spiritual care by nurses in curative cancer care: Protocol for a national, multicentre, mixed method study
Author(s) -
Groot Marieke,
Ebenau Anne F.,
Koning Helen,
Visser Anja,
Leget Carlo,
Laarhoven Hanneke W.M.,
Leeuwen René,
Ruben Riet,
Wulp Marijke,
Garssen Bert
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1111/jan.13332
Subject(s) - spiritual care , spirituality , psychosocial , nursing , palliative care , medicine , nursing care , psychology , family medicine , alternative medicine , psychiatry , pathology
Aim To gain insight into the quantity and quality of spiritual care provided by nurses in curative cancer care, from the perspectives of both patients and nurses. Background Cancer causes patients to suffer from diverse symptoms related to their illness. Nurses play an important role in the care for people with cancer. Next to paying attention to physical and psychosocial needs, caring for spiritual needs of patients also belongs to good nursing. Most of the research concerning spirituality and spiritual care in relation to cancer has focused on palliative care. Design A mixed methods design will be used in two sub‐phases. First, we will conduct semi‐structured interviews with 72–90 patients coming from nine hospitals. Subsequently, approximately the same number of nurses working on oncology wards of these hospitals will be interviewed. Methods We meticulously composed both interview guides so that only near the end of the interview explicit terms like spirituality and spiritual care are explicitly mentioned. Until that point, we will use other words to define the concepts. Next to the interviews, demographics, answers to some statements and several questionnaires will be gathered. Content analysis supported by DEDOOSE will be used to answer the research questions. Discussion The insight we will gain in this study enables us to compare experiences from the perspective of both patients and nurses. This can also provide us with suggestions for the improvement of nursing care for people with cancer who are treated with curative intent, a topic until now hardly addressed.