"I Often Just Don't Know what to Say!": Variations in Multidisciplinary Palliative Care Clinicians' Confidence and Needs Related to Spiritual Care.
Megan Miller, William E Rosa, Haley Buller and 2 others
PMID 39039027WHAT IT FOUND
Palliative clinicians reported moderate confidence in spiritual care but struggled with children, Pagan patients, and spiritual needs compared to other domains.
Nurses and social workers had lower confidence than chaplains. Staff requested training in communication, cultural humility, and assessment tools.
Key findings
01Clinicians reported the lowest confidence in communicating about spiritual needs compared to all other quality-of-life domains.
02Chaplains had significantly higher confidence in spiritual care than nurses and social workers, who showed minimal differences between them.
03Participants identified four key areas for improvement: training and support, strategies for diverse backgrounds, understanding specific populations, and personal growth.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
All participants were recruited from training programs that already included spiritual care content, so the results may not reflect the confidence levels of clinicians without this specific training. The sample was limited to nurses, social workers, and chaplains, excluding physicians and other key team members. The participant group lacked racial and ethnic diversity, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to more diverse clinician populations.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The training programs were funded by the National Cancer Institute.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the overall moderate confidence score (4.08/5) as evidence that spiritual care is being delivered effectively or consistently. The study specifically found lower confidence in key areas like pediatric communication and non-traditional religious beliefs, and the participants were selected from training programs, potentially overestimating the readiness of the general palliative workforce.