Spiritual experiences of parents and caregivers who have children with disabilities or special needs.

Fonte: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16418080&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=3&itool=pubmed_docsum

Spiritual experiences of parents and caregivers who have children with disabilities or special needs.

Speraw S.

The University of Tennessee College of Nursing, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.

Despite the fact that faith has been described as a universal concern, and despite the realization that the presence of social supports is an essential element in successful coping, there has been no systematic examination of the quality of spiritual networks important to families impacted by childhood disability. There is also little understanding of how spirituality in children influences the lived experience of faith in the adults who care for them. Findings reported here come out of a larger existential phenomenology study that examined the lived experience of parents or caregivers who sought to obtain formal religious education for their children with special needs. Participants included 26 parents/caregivers representing 44 children with special needs and 15 different faith traditions. Narratives indicated that many clergy and members of faith communities either devalue or fail to recognize the spiritual lives of disabled children. This lack of recognition was associated with participant disillusionment or crises of faith and a sense of alienation from potential sources of emotional support. In contrast, those participants whose children were welcomed reported feeling sustaining support and strengthened faith. No parent or caregiver perceived nurses as having an awareness of or interest in spirituality within families of children who have special needs.

PMID: 16418080

Spirituality of health workers: a descriptive study

Fonte: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16210029&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum

1: Int J Nurs Stud. 2005 Nov;42(8):915-21. Related Articles, Links


Spirituality of health workers: a descriptive study.

Boero ME, Caviglia ML, Monteverdi R, Braida V, Fabello M, Zorzella LM.

B.V.Consolata Rehabilitation Hospital Complex, Fatebenefratelli, Via Fatebenefratelli, 70, San Maurizio C.se, (TO), Italy. melenamar@tiscali.it

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organisation defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infermity". In May 1984 the spiritual dimension became part of WHO Member States' strategies for health. The WHO defines quality of life as "individuals' perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns." PURPOSE: To test health workers' quality of life (QOL) with regard to their spirituality. METHODS: The WHOQOL SRPB-domain 6 was used. It denotes an individual's perception of quality of life, as far as spirituality is concerned. The sample was formed by 116 health workers from three wards of three Rehabilitation Hospitals owned by the Brothers of Saint John of God, in Northern Italy. RESULTS: The sample shows means above the mid-point in all facets denoting reasonably good quality of life in the domain of spirituality. The most significative variables are: health conditions (p = .001*), religiousness (p < or = .0005**), personal creed (p < or = .0005**). IMPLICATIONS: The sample's quality of life in the domain of spirituality is reasonably good. Our findings suggest that spirituality is associated with the subjective perception of people's health status.

PMID: 16210029 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs as components of quality of life

Fonte: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16168541&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=3&itool=pubmed_docsum

A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs as components of quality of life.
Soc Sci Med. 2005 Sep 13

Soc Sci Med. 2005 Sep 13; [Epub ahead of print] Related Articles, Links


A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs as components of quality of life.

WHOQOL SRPB Group.

This paper reports on an international study in 18 countries (n=5087) to observe how spirituality, religion and personal beliefs (SRPB) relate to quality of life (QoL). SRPB is assessed using the World Health Organization's QoL Instrument (the WHOQOL), where eight additional facets were included to more fully address these issues as they pertain to QoL, along with physical, social, psychological and environmental domains. The facets address issues such as inner peace, faith, hope and optimism, and spiritual connection. The results showed that SRPB was highly correlated with all of the WHOQOL domains (p<0.01), although the strongest correlations were found with psychological and social domains and overall QoL. When all of the domain scores were entered into a stepwise hierarchal regression analysis, all of the domains contributed to overall quality of life (N=3636), explaining 65% of the variance. When this was repeated for those people who reported poor health (N=588), it was found that only four domains explain 52% of the variance. The first was the level of independence, followed by environment, SRPB and physical. Gender comparisons showed that despite showing lower scores for facets in the psychological domain, such as negative feelings and poorer cognitions, women still reported greater feelings of spiritual connection and faith than men. Those with less education reported greater faith but were less hopeful. It is suggested that SRPB should be more routinely addressed in assessment of QoL, as it can make a substantial difference in QoL particularly for those who report very poor health or are at the end of their life.

PMID: 16168541 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Spirituality and clinical care

Spirituality and clinical care.

Culliford L.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12493652&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum

Spiritual care and psychiatric treatment: an introduction

Fonte: http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/8/4/249

Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2002) 8: 249-258
© 2002 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Spiritual care and psychiatric treatment: an introduction
Larry Culliford


Larry Culliford is a consultant psychiatrist in the South Downs Health NHS Trust (Brighton Community Mental Health Centre, 79 Buckingham Road, Brighton BN1 3RJ, UK). A practising Christian, with wide ecumenical and inter-faith interests, he is a member of the Scientific and Medical Network (http://www.scimednet.org) and the Thomas Merton Society (http://stop.at/thomasmerton/). As ‘Patrick Whiteside’ he writes self-help books about happiness.

The Patron of the Royal College of Psychiatrists has pointed out the irony involved in recording patients' religion, without seeking to discover that all this means to them in terms of understanding and coping with their illness (HRH The Prince of Wales, 1991). One College past-President (Sims, 1994) firmly recommends evaluating the religious and spiritual experiences of our patients in assessing aetiology, diagnosis, prognosis and planning treatment. Across the water, an American Journal of Psychiatry editorial (Andreasen, 1996) has it that, ‘We must practice and preach the fact that psychiatrists are physicians to the soul as well as the body.’

The World Health Organization (WHO) involved more than 30 collaborating centres in the development of its instrument for measuring quality of life, the WHO Quality of Life (WHOQOL), which is structured by six domains (Box 1). A report on the proposed spirituality, religious and personal beliefs (SRPB) domain (WHO, 1998) quotes the WHO Constitution's definition of health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease’.

The use of spiritualist meetings and spirit communications in a Center for Mental Disabilities

The use of spiritualist meetings and spirit communications in a Center for Mental Disabilities

Frederico Camelo Leão e Lotufo Neto

in: http://www.planetary-collegium.net/conferences/200507/abstracts/leao_34

Altered States:
transformations of perception, place, and performance

A transdisciplinary conference convened by the Planetary Collegium, University of Plymouth

22 - 24 July 2005

Portland Square
University of Plymouth

http://www.planetary-collegium.net/conferences/detail/200507