The possibilities and challenges in providing pediatric spiritual care

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to present discussions on how pediatric nurses can perform spiritual care to children and adolescents and discuss the challenges of integrating such care in health-care settings. Based on the literature, the article presents an overview of spiritual care in pediatric settings highlighting the assessment of spirituality, expected outcomes, and the corresponding nursing interventions. Spiritual care provided to children and adolescents should take into account all aspects of the developmental stage, life experiences, and familiar and sociocultural contexts. Different approaches can be used to perform spiritual care. However, lack of knowledge and time are highlighted as the main challenges in integrating spiritual care into the clinical practice. Spiritual care is crucial to the well-being of children and adolescents in times of illness and hospitalization when the goal is to provide holistic care.

Keywords: Adolescent; child; nursing; nursing care; spirituality.