Supporting the spirituality of older people living with dementia in nursing care: A hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry into older people's and their family members' experiences.
Kristiina Toivonen, Andreas Charalambous, Riitta Suhonen
PMID 36379909WHAT IT FOUND
Older people with dementia and family members described spiritual support through religion, relationships, nature and art.
They said nurses needed time, presence and knowledge of each person's beliefs to offer it without making people feel a burden.
Key findings
01Participants described four main ways spirituality could be supported: religion, meaningful relationships, nature, and art.
02Older people and family members said nurses often did not have enough time or competence for spiritual support, and some older people avoided asking.
03Simple nursing acts such as asking how a person was, being present, and knowing the person were described as spiritual support.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and purposive: 19 participants, only 10 older people, all able to speak verbally and with mild or moderate dementia. Participants were from southern Finland and mostly Evangelical Lutheran, so findings may not transfer to other cultures or religious groups. The study asked older people and family members to speak from the older person's perspective and gave their comments equal weighting, so family views may have shaped what was reported. Nurses were not interviewed, so challenges such as limited time and competence are patients' and families' perceptions, not direct accounts of nursing workload. Quotes were translated from Finnish, which may affect nuance. This is qualitative description; it does not test whether spiritual support improves outcomes.
Declared interests
Funded by The Betania Foundation and The Finnish Nursing Education Foundation sr. The authors declared no known competing financial interests or personal relationships.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this as evidence that spiritual care improves dementia outcomes or that all older people want religious support. It reports experiences and perceptions of 19 participants, mostly Evangelical Lutheran, and does not test any intervention.