Abstract
ABSTRACTObjective: To describe the knowledge of pediatricians and pediatric residents about the meaning of death according to the most prevalent religions in Brazil.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among pediatricians and pediatric residents at a tertiary-level children’s hospital in the city of São Paulo, SP, Brazil, questioning about their knowledge and experience related to spiritual care and the most common religious beliefs among pediatric palliative care patients in Brazil.Results: 116 physicians answered the questionnaire, 98 (84.5%) considered themselves religious, defined as followers of any spiritual creed around the world, and 18 (15.5%) non-religious. Of the total, 97 (83.6%) considered themselves capable of dealing with the spiritual care of Catholic patients, 49 (42.2%) of Protestant patients and 92 (79.3%) of patients that follow Spiritism in the process of death. Religious doctors used less chaplaincy services than non-religious doctors (relative risk - RR 2.54; p=0.0432; confidence interval of 95% - 95%CI 1.21-5.34). Among the physicians, 111 (96%) believe that spirituality is beneficial in accepting the death process, responses were associated with the religiosity of the physicians (RR 1.18; p=0.0261; 95%CI 0.95-1.45). Also, 106 (91.4%) are unaware of the religion of their patients and the same number of participants consider pediatricians, in general, unprepared to deal with the spiritual aspect of death. These data are not associated with the participants’ religiosity.Conclusions: Although most pediatricians and residents consider themselves able to deal with the most prevalent religions in Brazil and affirm that spirituality is beneficial during the death process, little importance is given to the spiritual identity of their patients, which could limit an appropriate approach to their death process.
Highlights
IntroductionEven though death is inevitable for any living creature, man is the only one with a real awareness of his own finitude
Even though death is inevitable for any living creature, man is the only one with a real awareness of his own finitude. It shapes our way of life and the way we see our own death: is there another form of consciousness? Is there eternal rest in paradisiacal fields? Will we reincarnate into new bodies? Or is there no more biological activity? Mixed with our doubts and longing for answers, religions and their philosophies are an important part of the dying process
Of the 116 respondents, 106 (94%) said they did not know the religion of all the patients they attended. 111 (96%) believed that having a religion helped patients accept the dying process. 115 (99%) thought that religion helps provide relief to the patient and their relatives, and 21 (18%) had already made use of the chaplaincy service at their hospital
Summary
Even though death is inevitable for any living creature, man is the only one with a real awareness of his own finitude. It shapes our way of life and the way we see our own death: is there another form of consciousness? And for documentation purposes, medicine follows definitions that are prescribed and rigid in order to establish the death of an individual. Those definitions will not be discussed here, because the focus of this work is not on diseases, but people. Its purpose is to provide the patients (and their family) with physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual support, even post mortem.[1]
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