Spiritual Care in Hospice*

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of spiritual care—in particular spirituality and spiritual care in hospice. Both Christian religion and spiritual care have been at the heart of hospice from its beginnings in the 4th century A.D., when Fabiola established a Christian hospice for pilgrims from African pagan Rome. No discussion of spiritual care in hospice would be complete without a consideration of the concept of total pain and the meaning of suffering. There are global reasons for the current awareness for the need for spiritual care. An issue that is facing hospice and spiritual care in hospice is the rapid increase in the number of elderly in North American society. Spiritual care has been described as the “unfinished revolution in palliative care”. In caring for the terminally ill elderly, people must recognize the differences in the nature of the losses and in the perception of spirituality and relationship to religion.