Living the as-yet unanswered: spiritual care practices in family systems nursing

Abstract

A serious illness often creates suffering and precipitates a search for spiritual meaning. The purpose of this hermeneutic inquiry was to explore the meaning of spirituality and spiritual care practices in family systems nursing. The videotapes of 12 therapeutic conversations with three families living with serious illness were the primary data for the inquiry. Findings suggest that suffering embodies an invitation to respond to the spiritual. Identified spiritual care practices included gathering stories of illness and faith, opening space to reinterpret experiences from a spiritual perspective, drawing on imagination and metaphor, and listening with an opening silence. The therapeutic work with one family is highlighted. This inquiry revealed that spiritual care requires literacy in reading the spiritual, a willingness to respond to the particular and the unpredictable, and a belief that good care demands a wise and thoughtful response to the suffering other.