Measures of spiritual issues for palliative care patients: A literature review

Abstract

Members of the EORTC Quality of Life Group are developing a standalone functional measure of spiritual wellbeing for palliative care patients, which will have both a clinical and a measurement application. This paper discusses data from a literature review, conducted at two time points as part of the development process of this instrument. The review identified 29 existing measures of issues relating to patients’ spirituality or spiritual wellbeing. 22 are standalone measures, of which 15 can be categorised as substantive (investigating the substance of respondents’ beliefs), and 7 as functional (exploring the function those beliefs serve). However, perhaps owing to the lack of consensus concerning spirituality or spiritual wellbeing, the functional measures all have different (although sometimes overlapping) dimensions. In addition, they were all developed in a single cultural context (the US), often with predominantly Christian participants, and most were not developed with palliative care patients. None is therefore entirely suitable for use with palliative care patients in the UK or continental Europe.