How Healthcare Chaplains Respond to Spiritual Distress in Older Adults Nearing Death

Spiritual care, provided by chaplains across health care settings, has made a valuable contribution to the wellbeing of older adult patients and is now considered a central component of health care. While incorporating the spiritual dimension of the patient into health care, it continues to increase attention on spirituality and has generated many definitions of spirituality. A useful definition, offered by authors Walker and Breitsameter (2017), defines spirituality as "a quality that goes beyond religious affiliation, that strives for inspiration, reverence, awe, meaning and purpose, even in those who do not believe in any God" (p. 2238). Another definition of spirituality shared by Bonavita, Yakushko, Console, Jacobsen, and Mancuso (2018) describes spirituality as ‘‘the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they expressed their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred'' (p. 374). These two definitions conceptualize how spirituality brings meaning and purpose to individual belief and expression. As person-centered care continues to grow within health care settings, so does the patient's opportunity to participate more fully in their spiritual expression, especially when facing health challenges in general and end-of-life concerns. Across the health care professions, a greater recognition that spiritual care needs often emerge in health care settings is essential to assure patient holistic care as well as patient purpose and meaning in health uncertainty, illness, and dying