Community nurses, spirituality and bereavement care

Authors

  • C. Paul Lyttle Bell College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.v9i2.12

Keywords:

Bereaved older people, bereavement, community nurses, education, spirituality

Abstract

The study aimed to explore the perceptions of community nurses (health visitors and district nurses) in delivering a bereavement service to older people. It also aimed to gain an understanding of how bereaved older clients perceived bereavement visiting by community nurses. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out with ten bereaved older people and twenty community nurses. Analysis of the interviews identified key concepts. A quantitative survey was carried out by questionnaire to two hundred and fourteen community nurses and achieved a return rate of one hundred and forty-three (66.8%). Community nurses interviewed stressed the importance of continuity of care, using intuition, and the importance of a client led service within the nurse/client relationship. They also identified, as helpful, having had a personal experience of grief. Bereaved older people interviewed identified key concepts of continuity, friendship and rapport within the client/nurse relationship. They had mixed perceptions regarding their own abilities to cope with grief as well as the impact of visits received from community nurses. Some bereaved older people perceived community nurses as skilled assessors of their grief. Community nurses surveyed by postal questionnaire demonstrated variations both in practice and in the administration of practice related to bereavement care. Friendship and rapport with the client group was found to be important as was spirituality, community nurse educational preparation and the role of voluntary organisations. Professional dichotomies in bereavement care were found to be present.

Author Biography

  • C. Paul Lyttle, Bell College

    C.Paul Lyttle is lecturer at Bell College, School of Health Studies, Dumfries Campus

References

AMELING, A. AND POVILONIS, M. (2001). "Spirituality, Meaning, Mental Health and Nursing." Psychosocial Nursing 39(4): 15-20.

ANDERSON, K. AND DIMOND, M. F. (1995). "The experience of bereavement in older adults." Journal of Advanced Nursing 22: 308-315.

BALK, D. E. (1999). "Bereavement and Spiritual Change." Death Studies 23: 485-493.

DENHAM, S. A. (1999). "Part 2: Family Health During and After Death of a Family Member." Journal of Family Nursing 5(2): 160-183.

DOWRICK, C. (1993). "Self-assessment by elderly people - a means of identifying unmet need in primary care." Health & Social Care. 1: 289-296.

FRANKL, V. E. (1963). Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy. New York, Washington Square Press.

GIBSON, V. (1996). "The problems of researching sensitive topics in health care." Nurse Researcher 4(2): 65-74.

HEGGE, M. AND FISCHER, C. (2000). "Grief Responses of Senior and Elderly Widows." Journal of Gerontological Nursing: 35- 43.

JONES, P. S. AND MARTINSON, I. M. (1992). "The Experience of Bereavement in Caregivers of Family Members With Alzheimer's Disease." IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship 24(3): 172176.

LOGUE, R. (1996). Is Nursing Research Detrimental to Nursing Education Practice? Nurse Researcher. 4 (1) 63-69.

MORGAN, D. L. (1998). "Practical stratgies for Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Application to Health Research." Qualitative Health Research 8(3): 362-376.

MACPHERSON, I., HUNTER, D. J. and McKeganey, N. P. (1988). "Interviewing elderly people: some problems and challenges." Research Policy and Planning 5(2): 13-18.

NHS HDL 76 (2002) Spiritual Care in NHS Scotland: Guidelines on Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the NHS in Scotland. Scottish Executive Health Department, Edinburgh

NHS QIS (2005) Report of the Scoping Study Group on the Provision of Spiritual Care in NHSScotland. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, Edinburgh

PARKES, C. M. (1995). "Guidelines for conducting ethical bereavement research." Death Studies 19: 171-181.

PARKES, C. M. (1997). "Bereavement and mental health in the elderly." Reviews in Clinical Gerontology 7: 47- 53.

PEARSON, P. (1997). Integrating qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Nurse Researcher. 4 (3) 69-80.

ROSS, L. (1996). "Teaching spiritual care to nurses." Nurse Education Today 16: 38-43.

Scottish, Office (1991). Everybody's Death should Matter To Somebody. Edinburgh, HMSO.

SCRUTTON, S. (1995). Bereavement and Grief. Supporting older people through loss. London, Edward Arnold. Co-published with Age Concern.

SIMSEN, B. (1986). "The spiritual dimension." Nursing Times November 26: 41-42.

Published

2013-04-07

How to Cite

Lyttle, C. (2013). Community nurses, spirituality and bereavement care. Health and Social Care Chaplaincy, 9(2), 12-17. https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.v9i2.12