Effectiveness of International Hospice and Palliative Care Training for Health Care Professionals in Countries of the Western Pacific Region.

As hospice and palliative care is a holistic service grounded in spirituality, training in spiritual care is essential. This study aimed to describe an international workforce training program for hospice and palliative care that emphasized spiritual care and evaluate the effectiveness of the training implementation. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 28 health care professionals from 4 countries in the Western Pacific Region, who attended the international workforce trainings on hospice and palliative care. Data were collected before and after the trainings using a self-reported survey questionnaire. The participants' palliative care knowledge, spiritual well-being, perceived stress, and compassion competency were analyzed to evaluate the training program. Whereas the participants' knowledge of hospice and palliative care ( P < .001) and compassion competency increased ( P = .004), their perceived stress decreased post training ( P = .002). This study provided an extensive description of an international workforce training program of hospice and palliative care for potential replication of the training in other regions of the world. Because training in hospice and palliative care positively influenced health care professionals' spiritual care competency, future training and studies should consider spiritual care factors, along with intellectual aspects.

Redefining Palliative Care-A New Consensus-Based Definition.

CONTEXT: The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care developed a consensus-based definition of palliative care (PC) that focuses on the relief of serious health-related suffering, a concept put forward by the Lancet Commission Global Access to Palliative Care and Pain Relief. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this article is to present the research behind the new definition. METHODS: The three-phased consensus process involved health care workers from countries in all income levels. In Phase 1, 38 PC experts evaluated the components of the World Health Organization definition and suggested new/revised ones. In Phase 2, 412 International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care members in 88 countries expressed their level of agreement with the suggested components. In Phase 3, using results from Phase 2, the expert panel developed the definition. RESULTS: The consensus-based definition is as follows: Palliative care is the active holistic care of individuals across all ages with serious health-related suffering due to severe illness and especially of those near the end of life. It aims to improve the quality of life of patients, their families and their caregivers. The definition includes a number of bullet points with additional details as well as recommendations for governments to reduce barriers to PC. CONCLUSION: Participants had significantly different perceptions and interpretations of PC. The greatest challenge faced by the core group was trying to find a middle ground between those who think that PC is the relief of all suffering and those who believe that PC describes the care of those with a very limited remaining life span.

Effects of Holy Name Meditation on the Quality of Life of Hospital Middle Manager Nurses in Korea: A 6-Month Follow-Up.

BACKGROUND: Nurses experience poor quality of life due to workload and role stress. In this study, a spirituality-based intervention was administered to nurse managers. METHOD: A total of 45 nurse managers participated in the study; 24 were assigned to the experimental group, and 21 were assigned to a control group. The Holy Name Meditation Program was provided solely to the experimental group. Pretest, posttest 1 (5 weeks after the intervention), posttest 2 (12 weeks after the intervention), and posttest 3 (24 weeks after the intervention) data were gathered on seven variables, including spiritual well-being, spiritual needs, job satisfaction, leadership, burnout, depression, and self-efficacy. RESULTS: The experimental group showed significant improvement in spiritual well-being (p < .001), spiritual needs (p = .029), and job satisfaction (p = .005) until the 24-week follow-up. Burnout (p < .001), depression and anxiety (p = .034), and self-efficacy (p = .024) showed significant improvement until the 12-week follow-up. Depression and anxiety (p = .053) showed decreasing tendency until the 24-week follow-up. CONCLUSION: Evidence suggests this program promotes spiritual and psychosocial well-being of nurse managers. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2020;51(5):215-224.].

The Effects of Holy Name Meditation on Spiritual Well-being, Depression, and Anxiety of Patients With Cancer.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the Holy Name Meditation on cancer patients' spiritual well-being, anxiety, depression, and pain. Twenty-eight patients were enrolled in the control group, and 18 patients were selected for the experimental group. Only the patients in the experimental group completed 5 weeks of the Holy Name Meditation Program. All participants were surveyed to assess spiritual well-being (Spiritual Well-Being Scale), anxiety and depression (Symptom Checklist 90-R), and pain (numeric pain rating scale). There were no significant differences between the two groups' general characteristics, but the baseline survey revealed that anxiety and depression levels were higher in the experimental group. Analyzing the results after controlling the baseline scores of anxiety and depression showed that spiritual well-being was increased (F = 4.80, P = .034), whereas anxiety (F = 4.98, P = .031) and depression (F = 7.28, P = .010) were decreased after the intervention. No difference in pain was found between the two groups. The Holy Name Meditation Program was thus effective in enhancing cancer patients' spiritual well-being and decreasing their anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is recommended that Holy Name Meditation be provided in clinical settings to reduce the psychosocial and spiritual suffering of cancer patients.

[Spiritual and psychosocial effects of the spirituality promotion program on clinical nurses].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the Spirituality Promotion Program(SPP) for young nurses working in the stressful university hospital environment. METHODS: The study included 41 nurses in the experimental group, nurses who had worked less than 5 years and completed 8 weeks of SPP between June and July in 2011. The control group, 44 nurses, also received the same program after the study was completed. For the study, a survey was conducted of all participants concerning spirituality, perceived stress, positive and negative affect, empathy, job satisfaction, and leadership practice. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the two groups on study variables. Perceived stress decreased significantly in the experimental group (p=.012). Spirituality (p=.019), positive affect (p=.014), empathy (p=.004), job satisfaction (p=.016), and leadership practice (p=.021) increased significantly in the experimental group. CONCLUSION: The results show that the Spirituality Promotion Program has positive effects on the spiritual and psychosocial aspect of young nurses. Continuation of this program for nurses is recommended in order to help them develop their selfcare ability and improve nursing competency.

Effects of a spirituality training program on the spiritual and psychosocial well-being of hospital middle manager nurses in Korea.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the effect of a spirituality training program on the spiritual well-being, spiritual integrity, leadership practice, job satisfaction, and burnout of hospital middle manager nurses in Korea. METHODS: In an experimental study with a two-group (experimental vs. control) design, participants were enrolled for 5 weeks, with 24 nurses in the spirituality program and 27 in the control group. RESULTS: After the spirituality training program, spiritual well-being, spiritual integrity, and leadership practice improved and burnout was reduced significantly in the experimental group compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: The program was effective in improving psychosocial and spiritual well-being of middle manager nurses. Thus, this program could be a resource for continuing education and staff development offerings to enhance the well-being of nurses and the spiritual care of patients.

Development and validation of a scale assessing spiritual needs for Korean patients with cancer.

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale assessing the spiritual needs of Korean patients with cancer. For the scale development, qualitative interviews and theoretical analyses were conducted to extract measurable constructs within the Korean culture. As a result, 26 items were developed for the validation of a scale. The scale was administered to 257 cancer patients; the reliability and validity of the scale were examined using Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis, respectively. The reliability was 0.92. The results of factor analysis revealed five subconstructs: love and connection, hope and peace, meaning and purpose, relationship with God, and acceptance of dying. Given these subconstructs, suggestions are provided for future studies. Spirituality has been shown to be important in the lives of patients with chronic disease. Therefore, having a scale which adequately assesses patients' spiritual needs is critical to determining how to address these needs in a clinical setting.