Spiritual care experiences by cancer patients, their family caregivers and healthcare team members in oncology practice settings: A qualitative study

Purpose: Integrating spirituality into the patient care within a healthcare team, increases the ability to provide "holistic care" for cancer patients. The spiritual care experiences of different involved persons can be a guide for future planning. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the spiritual care experiences of hospitalized cancer patients, their family caregivers and healthcare team members in oncology settings. Methods: This is a descriptive qualitative study which was conducted with 21 participants, who were selected by purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. The data were analyzed with conventional content analysis method. Results: Two themes of "systematic care" and "caring with paradoxical results" were extracted from the spiritual care experiences of our participants. Conclusions: Spiritual care as professional, comprehensive, collaborative and artistic care should be provided in a multidisciplinary healthcare team for cancer patients. Otherwise, patients may experience deprivation of spiritual services and consequently, spiritual distress. (c) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.