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Journeying with Morrie

Challenging Notions of Professional Delivery of Spiritual Care at the End of Life

Bibliographic Data

ID6192047
AuthorsJacqueline H Watts (The Open University, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume16
Issue4
Pages305-319
Publication date2008-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIllness Crisis & Loss (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1054-1373 • E-ISSN: 1552-6968
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2190/il.16.4.c
OpenAlexW2034182703
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

The spiritual welfare of dying people has in recent years moved from the domain of religion to become the concern of health care professionals, particularly as part of the ideal of holism that underpins palliative care. Professional delivery of spiritual care incorporates the features of assessment, control, and treatment which may involve varying degrees of intrusion into the patient's deeply personal inner self. Using a case study approach, this article explores meanings of spirituality and understandings of what is meant by the term “spiritual care.” It argues that biographical and community approaches to spiritual care of dying people may be more congruent with the concept of the “whole person” because this support is rooted in an intimate contextual knowledge of the dying person by the caregiver. This challenges the dominant discourses of professional expertise to embrace informal personal and collective competence in this important aspect of end of life care

Alternative medicine · Epistemology · Holism · Palliative care · Sociology · Spiritual care · Spirituality · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Medicine · Nursing · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology

  • Spiritual Care Competence in Palliative Care

    Open Access•Joana Coelho, J Mendes Coelho et al.•Journal of Religion and Health•2025

  • Towards clarification of the meaning of spirituality

    Open Access•Ruth A Tanyi, Pind Ole Holten•Journal of Advanced Nursing•2002

  • An empirically-based rationale for a spiritually-integrated psychotherapy

    Kenneth I Pargament, Nichole A Murray‐swank et al.•Mental Health Religion & Culture•2005

  • A new model of grief

    Tony Walter•Mortality•1996

  • Death, dying and bereavement

    Open Access•Henry Scicluna•International Journal of…•2001

  • Spirituality and Old Age

    Open Access•Sue Thompson•Illness Crisis & Loss•2007

  • Social Opportunity in the Face of Cancer

    Open Access•Patricia Case•Illness Crisis & Loss•2006

  • The dying soul

    Gail Bateman•Health Sociology Review•2001

  • Chronic illness as biographical disruption

    Open Access•Michael Bury•Sociology of Health & Illness•1982

Citations per year1
Citation span2025 - 2025 (1)
Highly citedNo

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