Spiritual care practices in hospices in the Western cape, South Africa : the challenge of diversity
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC (part of Springer Nature)
Abstract
Background: South Africa is a very diverse middle-income country, still deeply divided by the legacy of its colonial
and apartheid past. As part of a larger study, this article explored the experiences and views of representatives of
hospices in the Western Cape province of South Africa on the provision of appropriate spiritual care, given local
issues and constraints.
Methods: Two sets of focus group discussions, with 23 hospice participants, were conducted with 11 of the 12
Hospice Palliative Care Association registered hospices in the Western Cape, South Africa, to understand what
spiritual care practices existed in their hospices against the backdrop of multifaceted diversities. The discussions
were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results: Two prominent themes emerged: the challenges of providing relevant spiritual care services in a
religiously, culturally, linguistically and racially diverse setting, and the organisational context impacting such a
spiritual care service. Participants agreed that spiritual care is an important service and that it plays a significant role
within the inter-disciplinary team. Participants recognised the need for spiritual care training and skills development,
alongside the financial costs of employing dedicated spiritual care workers. In spite of the diversities and resource
constraints, the approach of individual hospices to providing spiritual care remained robust.
Discussion: Given the diversities that are largely unique to South Africa, shaped essentially by past injustices, the
hospices have to navigate considerable hurdles such as cultural differences, religious diversity, and language
barriers to provide spiritual care services, within significant resource constraints.
Conclusions: While each of the hospices have established spiritual care services to varying degrees, there was an
expressed need for training in spiritual care to develop a baseline guide that was bespoke to the complexities of
the South African context. Part of this training needs to focus on the complexity of providing culturally appropriate
services.
Description
CITATION: Mahilall, R. & Swartz, L. 2021. Spiritual care practices in hospices in the Western cape, South Africa : the challenge of diversity. BMC Palliative Care, 20:9, doi:10.1186/s12904-020-00704-z.
The original publication is available at https://bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com
Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund
The original publication is available at https://bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com
Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund
Keywords
Spiritual care, Spiritual care (Medical care), Palliative care, Hospice care -- Religious aspects, Diversity, Religious
Citation
Mahilall, R. & Swartz, L. 2021. Spiritual care practices in hospices in the Western cape, South Africa : the challenge of diversity. BMC Palliative Care, 20:9, doi:10.1186/s12904-020-00704-z