Empirical Insights into Spiritual Care for the Dying

Spiritual Care as part of Hospice and Palliative Care is usually assigned to pastoral care services. There is, however, a lack of empirical data describing what pastoral care actually does. The study gives quantitative data on the actual performance of spiritual care services in German hospice and palliative care services. Chaplains in 8 German palliative care and hospice settings documented 250 consecutive contacts over the period of one month along a predefined report. Results show that some 60% of all contacts were with patient alone, 32% with patient and family member, 8% with family member alone. In all cases, religious affiliation was not a criteria for contact. Pastoral care acts included conversation (100%) and rituals (55 %). Ritual acts depended heavily on religious affiliation. The study gives insights into the number and length of spiritual care contacts in different settings, spiritual care interventions, and indications for spiritual care.