基督宗教靈性關懷者對臨終病人靈性照顧能力之質性研究

rpose: Spiritual care is an essential domain of quality palliative care. Studies have consistently indicated that patients with serious illness and end-of-life concerns oftenexpressed a need for incorporating spirituality issues into the palliative care they received. Yet, little published literature has investigated core competencies associated with the practice of spiritually-oriented palliative care among providers within this specific field. The current study aimed to identify competencies required for providers of spiritual care within the hospice palliative care system in Taiwan based on a Christian perspective. Method: A total of 18 professional hospice palliative spiritual care providers in Taiwan were recruited to participate in the study. Participants were consisted of physicians, social worker, psychologists, nurses, palliative care trainers, pastors, and spiritual care specialists. Among the participants all were Christians except three members. Interviews based on focused group were conducted and audio-taped. Verbatim were transcribed and analyzed by qualitative Thematic Analysis method. Result: Three domains of competencies (basic knowledge, attitude, and professional skills) and 18 sub-domains for spiritual care were identified based on the analysis. The basic knowledge domain included: understanding and acceptance of different religions, possessing knowledge of basic medical and palliative care, providing holistic spiritual care for whole person/whole process/whole family, collaborating with other professions, and seeking and utilizing resources; the attitude domain concerns with the care providers for having: self-knowledge, caring attitudes, work value and commitment, respect for patients and their autonomy, care for the spiritual needs of the patients and their families, adherence to work ethics, the ability to provide religiously appropriate/sensitive care, and valuing professional development; the professional skills domain includes care providers' competence in: relationshipbuilding and communication skills, assisting patients/families to deal with spiritual issues, assisting patients to gain spiritual peace, conducting spiritual assessment, and providing Christian faith based spiritual care. Conclusion: The study provides insights to help inform health care professionals and academics in developing appropriate curricula to train spiritual care providers and to improve end-of-life spiritual care in Taiwan. Additionally, the findings of the current study can guide the development of new measures to assess spiritually-based palliative care competencies for care providers in future research.