Spirituality Incorporated into Care for Both Disease and Health
According to a study conducted by experts from Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and co-authored by Balboni, VanderWeele, and senior author Howard Koh, the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at Harvard Chan School, spirituality should be incorporated into care for both severe disease and general health.
Figure 1: Spirituality to Healthier Lives and Longer Lifespans.
Figure 1 shows thatspirituality is defined as “the way individuals seek ultimate meaning, purpose, connection, value, or transcendence,” according to the International Consensus Conference on Spiritual Care in Health Care. This might involve organized religion, but it also includes means of discovering ultimate meaning through connections with family, community, or nature. [1]
“This study represents the most rigorous and comprehensive systematic analysis of the modern-day literature regarding health and spirituality to date,” said Tracy Balboni. “Our findings indicate that attention to spirituality in serious illness and in health should be a vital part of future whole person-centered care, and the results should stimulate more national discussion and progress on how spirituality can be incorporated into this type of value-sensitive care.”
They noted that for healthy people, spiritual community participation–as exemplified by religious service attendance – is associated with healthier lives, including greater longevity, less depression and suicide, and less substance use. For many patients, spirituality is important and influences key outcomes in illness, such as quality of life and medical care decisions. [2]
Balboni, VanderWeele, Koh, and colleagues evaluated and assessed the highest-quality data on spirituality in severe illness and health published between January 2000 and April 2022 in their analysis. 371 of the 8,946 publications dealing with serious illness fulfilled the study’s tight inclusion requirements, as did 215 of the 6,485 articles regarding health outcomes.
According to the researchers, the simple act of asking about a patient’s spirituality can and should be part of patient-centered, value-sensitive care. The information gleaned from the conversation can guide further medical decision-making, including but not limited to notifying a spiritual care specialist.
Spiritual care specialists, such as chaplains, are trained to provide clinical pastoral care to diverse patients–whether spiritual-not-religious or from various religious traditions. Chaplains themselves represent a variety of spiritual backgrounds, including secular and religious. [3]
References:
- https://newsbrig.com/harvard-researchers-have-linked-spirituality-to-healthier-lives-and-longer-lifespans/885346/
- https://uncommondescent.com/spirituality/at-scitech-daily-harvard-researchers-have-linked-spirituality-to-healthier-lives-and-longer-lifespans/
- https://scitechdaily.com/harvard-researchers-have-linked-spirituality-to-healthier-lives-and-longer-lifespans/
Cite this article:
Sri Vasagi K (2022) Spirituality Incorporated into Care for Both Disease and Health, Anatechmaz, pp. 415