T
he term ‘spirituality’ is open to interpretation, and there seems to be no single agreed definition of what essentially con-
stitutes spiritual care. However, during the last decade there has been increasing acknowledgment of the importance of spirituality in health care (Milligan, 2004; Lundmark, 2006). Studies have shown that spiritual beliefs can be a significant factor in the quality of life of people recovering from illness (Cohen et al, 1996; O’Connell and Skevington, 2005). Furthermore, recent research suggests that spiritual beliefs can affect clinical outcome (Narayanasamy, 2004; National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), 2004; Folland, 2005), including that of cancer patients (Musgrave and McFarlane, 2003; Gordon and Mitchell, 2004).
Spirituality is referred to in several leading government documents, not least the NICE guidelines Improving Supportive and Palliative Care for Adults with Cancer (NICE, 2004).Worryingly, this document identifies ‘indications that spiritual needs are not being met within cancer services’, suggesting that spiritual needs frequentl y go unrecogni zed by health-care professionals. More reassuringly,however, spiritual care is clearly identified as an integral component of the Department of Health’s (DH) End Of Life Care Strategy(2008). Holistic care is obviously extremely
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