The Role of Religious Beliefs in Palliative Patients

Spiritual care is part of holistic care in the person-centred biopsychosocial–spiritual model. In addition to meeting patients’ physical and medical needs and social and emotional needs, holistic care entails a commitment to meet the spiritual needs of all patients. Spiritual care is particularly concerned with how a person makes sense of circumstances and events, finding meaning and purpose through a web of connections including family, friends, pets, institutions, nature, the cosmos, or a higher power. Religious care in contrast to spiritual care operates out of a distinct religious framework, including particular beliefs, values, rituals, structures, communities of practice, or perspectives on reality. Religious care and spiritual care are intimately related; however, neither can substitute for the other as a person approaches the boundaries of life. For a religious person, as death approaches, there will be an increasing asymmetry between more general concerns of spirituality and more specific attention paid to faith or religious belief and ritual. Recognition of the role spirituality plays in the care of the patient with serious illness is crucial in addressing patient symptoms and suffering.