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Recommendations for spiritual care in cancer patients: a clinical practice guideline for oncology nurses in Iran

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Abstract

Background

In spite of the necessity of implementing spiritual care practices for cancer patients, there is no clear process in this regard in palliative care programs of the health system of countries. The present study was designed with the aim of developing a clinical practice guideline of spiritual care in cancer patients for oncology nurses in the current context.

Methods

This is a multi-method study which was conducted in five stages within the framework of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline. A research committee consisting of four focal and 16 secondary members was formed. The stages included determining the scope of the study, developing guideline (a qualitative study and a systematic review, triangulation of the data, and producing a preliminary draft), consultation stage (validation of the guideline in three rounds of the Delphi study), as well as revision and publication stages.

Results

The clinical guideline of spiritual care with 84 evidence-based recommendations was developed in three main areas, including the human resources, care settings, and the process of spiritual care.

Conclusions

We are hoping by applying this clinical guideline in oncology settings to move towards an integrated spiritual care plan for cancer patients in the context of our health system. Healthcare organizations should support to form spiritual care teams under supervision of the oncology nurses with qualified healthcare providers and a trained clergy. Through holistic care, they can constantly examine the spiritual needs of cancer patients alongside their other needs by focusing on the phases of the nursing process.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate all cancer patients, their family members, healthcare team members, as well as spiritual researcher-therapists who participated in the qualitative part of this study. Also, thanks are due to all the authors of the studies or guidelines we used on the systematic review part.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing & Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Soolmaz Moosavi

  2. Medical-Surgical Department, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Fariba Borhani

  3. Cancer Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Esmaeel Akbari

  4. Student Research Committee, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Nadia Sanee

  5. Community Health Nursing Department, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Vali-Asr Avenue, Cross of Vali-Asr Avenue and Hashemi Rafsanjani (Neiaiesh) Highway, Opposite to Rajaee Heart Hospital, Tehran, 1996835119, Iran

    Camelia Rohani

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  1. Soolmaz Moosavi
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  2. Fariba Borhani
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  3. Mohammad Esmaeel Akbari
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Contributions

Soolmaz Moosavi and Camelia Rohani did the planning and designing of the study. This study was supervised by Camelia Rohani. Electronic search in databases was done by Soolmaz Moosavi and Nadia Sanee. Nadia Sanee rechecked search terms and syntaxes. Soolmaz Moosavi was the leading author for drafting of the article and was responsible for identifying relevant references. Soolmaz Moosavi and Camelia Rohani revised different versions of the manuscript. Fariba Borhani and Mohammad Esmaeel Akbari contributed significant text. All authors were in close collaboration and responsible for critical revisions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Camelia Rohani.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

To conduct the research, the registration code of ethics was obtained (IR.SBMU.PHMN.567) from the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. In the qualitative part of this study, informed oral and written consent of the participants were obtained.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Moosavi, S., Borhani, F., Akbari, M.E. et al. Recommendations for spiritual care in cancer patients: a clinical practice guideline for oncology nurses in Iran. Support Care Cancer 28, 5381–5395 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05390-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05390-4

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