title: Does the working environment influence health care professionals' values, meaning in life and religiousness? Palliative care units compared with maternity wards.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increased altruism, self-transcendence, and quests for meaning in life (MiL) have been found in palliative care (PC) patients and their families who experience the finiteness of life. Similar changes were observed in healthy subjects who were experimentally confronted with their mortality.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study investigated how daily experiences of the transitoriness of life influence PC health care professionals' (HCPs) values, MiL, and religiousness.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a cross-sectional study, the Schwartz Value Survey, the Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation, and the Idler Index of Religiosity were used to investigate personal values, MiL, and private religiousness. HCPs working in PC (confronted with death) were compared with a control group of HCPs working at maternity wards (MWs) using multivariate models. Differences were considered to be statistically significant at P < 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy PC- and 70 MW-HCPs took part in the study (response rate 74.0%). No differences between the groups were found in overall MiL satisfaction scores. PC-HCPs were significantly more religious than MW-HCPs; they listed spirituality and nature experience more often as areas in which they experience MiL. Furthermore, hedonism was more important for PC-HCPs, and they had higher scores in openness-to-change values (stimulation and self-direction). MW-HCPs were more likely to list family as a MiL area. They assigned more importance to health and scored higher in conservation values (conformity and security). Duration of professional experience did not influence these results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Basic differences in values, MiL, and religiousness between PC-HCPs and MW-HCPs might have influenced the choice of working environment because no effect of job duration was observed. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Medicine, University of Munich, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: martin@fegg.de.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fegg
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Medicine, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sibylle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: L'hoste
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Medicine, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brandstätter
authors.affiliation: Service de Soins Palliatifs, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Laussane, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gian Domenico
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Borasio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009775:Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Hospital; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology*; D012067:Religion; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Health care professionals; meaning in life; palliative care; personal values; religiosity