Paliatívna medicína a liečba bolesti 1-2e/2022

Spiritual needs of older people in palliative care

In the paper we present a pilot study focused on application of nursing activities of a selected NIC (Nursing Interventions Classification) intervention Spiritual Support 5420 in older people with the nursing diagnosis Spiritual Distress 00066 in palliative care. The sample consisted of 18 patients from the Hospice of St. Elisabeth in Ľubica and 21 patients from the Geriatric Department, Hospital Poprad. We used the nursing activities of the selected NIC intervention Spiritual Support 5420 for five days. We compared the nursing activities between the workplaces. The statistical differences between the nursing activities were found in five of them. The most frequently used nursing activities were: NIC 4 Treat individual with dignity and respect (AM = 4.59); NIC 1 Use therapeutic communication to establish trust and empathic caring (AM = 4.49); and NIC 11 Be open to individual’s expressions and interests (AM = 4.08).

Keywords: spiritual distress, older person, palliative care, nursing diagnosis, nursing activity