title: 'Spiritual care is not the hospital's business': a qualitative study on the perspectives of patients about the integration of spirituality in healthcare settings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several studies have investigated the relationship between spirituality and health. They claim the need to develop spiritual care to answer patients' spiritual suffering and to promote spiritual well-being. However, the present study critically analyses the following idea: we ought to take care of the spiritual dimension of patients. Does this interest for spirituality not come from healthcare professionals' desire more than from the patients themselves?
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To answer this question, we explored the perspectives of individuals with cancer regarding the integration of spirituality in the healthcare setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative design using semistructured interviews to focus on subjective experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  One of the major public hospitals of Paris, France.
  
  
  METHODS
  20 participants (n=11 men and n=9 women) with advanced cancer (stage IV). Age ranges from 37 to 80 years with a mean age of 58.7 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings demonstrated that participants do not expect help from the hospital to handle spiritual issues but they wish for their spiritual dimension to be simply recognised as a part of their identity and dignity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings invite us to view the question of spirituality not as a new dimension of care but as a new challenge for healthcare institutions to recognise that the persons they are working for are not just 'patients' but human beings with a precious interior life.
authors: Department of Theology and Religious Sciences, Laval University, Quebec, Quebec, Canada.|Department of Medical Ethics and Legal Medicine, Paris 5 University, Paris, France.
authors: Nicolas
authors: N
authors: Pujol
authors: Department of Theology and Religious Sciences, Laval University, Quebec, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Guy
authors: G
authors: Jobin
authors: Department of Medical Ethics and Legal Medicine, Paris 5 University, Paris, France.
authors: Sadek
authors: S
authors: Beloucif
keywords: Care of the Dying Patient; Ethics; Religious Ethics