title: To describe or prescribe: assumptions underlying a prescriptive nursing process approach to spiritual care.
abstract: Increasing attention is being paid to spirituality in nursing practice. Much of the literature on spiritual care uses the nursing process to describe this aspect of care. However, the use of the nursing process in the area of spirituality may be problematic, depending upon the understandings of the nature and intent of this process. Is it primarily a descriptive process meant to make visible the nursing actions to provide spiritual support, or is it a prescriptive process meant to guide nursing actions for intervening in the spirituality of patients? A prescriptive nursing process approach implies influencing, and in some cases reframing, the spirituality of patients and thereby extends beyond general notions of spiritual support. In this paper we discuss four problematic assumptions that form the basis for a prescriptive approach to spiritual care. We conclude that this approach extends the nursing role beyond appropriate professional boundaries, making it ethically problematic.
authors.affiliation: Trinity Western University, Langley, BC, Canada. pesut@twu.ca
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pesut
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sawatzky
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D005086:Existentialism / Q000523:psychology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D019359:Knowledge; D016294:Models, Nursing; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D009736:Nursing Process / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D012944:Social Support; D029181:Spirituality