This new edition, led by two prominent Professors of Nursing, explores issues of spiritual assessment in healthcare practice while adopting a lifespan approach and also including expertise from nursing, midwifery, medicine, mental health, children and adolescents, meaningful ageing, and intellectual disability. The importance of cultural sensitivity and diversity are explored because it is recognised that these are themes that have been neglected in discussions about spiritual assessment. It provides nurses and other healthcare professionals with a valuable resource that will assist them with identifying and meeting their patients' and clients' spiritual needs. The book, as previously, commenced by providing an overview of what is meant by spirituality, this operational definition is derived from the authors’ research and experiences in teaching these subjects to a wide range of healthcare professionals.
The updated and expanded text will assist readers to engage with the conceptual and theoretical challenges and developments associated with spirituality and spiritual care. The book offers very practical insights and steps for introducing and advancing spiritual assessment in a wide range of healthcare settings. The adoption of a life span approach means that concepts such as spirituality, spiritual care and assessment can be better understood by healthcare professionals working in specialist fields of practice. Each chapter will draw upon up to date evidence to demonstrate the development of both the art and science of spiritual assessment.
The book will continue to challenge contemporary thinking, asking for healthcare professionals working within a diverse range of care settings, organisations/institutions, educational contexts to evaluate their practice in relation to spiritual assessment.
A primary goal of this 2nd Edition is to continue to advance thinking and practice in spiritual assessment by using a lifespan approach that offers insight into the dilemmas, obstacles, deficits that inhibit or prevent nurses and other allied healthcare providers from supporting clients and patients with their spiritual needs.
Linda Ross is a Professor of Nursing (specialising in spirituality) at the University of South Wales. Her PhD in 1992 was the first in Europe to explore nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care which she published as a book in 1997. She has published extensively about spirituality, contributing to numerous texts such as the ‘Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare’ (2012) and co-editing ‘Spiritual Assessment in Healthcare Practice’ (2010). She contributed to the Royal College of Nursing’s ‘Spirituality in Nursing Care’ educational resources, and to the spiritual care guidance which accompanies the Welsh Government’s Health and Care Standards (2015). She is a Director, Trustee, Founding member and Membership Secretary for the International Network for the Study of Spirituality (formerly BASS), an Executive Editor for the Society’s affiliated ‘Journal for the Study of Spirituality’ and editor for ‘Health & Social Care Chaplaincy’. She co-led (with 5 other partners) anErasmus funded 3 year project to establish best practice in spiritual care nurse education across Europe (EPICC Project). She chairs the emerging EPICC Network and the All Wales Spirituality, Health & Wellbeing Group (SHaW) which advises Welsh Government on spiritual, faith, beliefs and pastoral matters in relation to health services across Wales. Her other roles include Lay Executive Board Member of the UK Board of Health & Social Care Chaplaincy and Board Member of the Spirituality and Health Research Center, Azusa Pacific University California.
Wilfred McSherry is a Professor in Nursing working in a joint appointment between Department of Nursing, School of Health and Social Care, Staffordshire University and the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust United Kingdom and part-time Professor at VID University College, Bergen, Norway.
Wilf has had a career in nursing working as a Registered Nurse primarily within AcuteHospital Care with a focus upon care of the older person and end of life care. His interest in the spiritual dimension developed alongside a realisation that this aspect of care was neglected and forgotten by some healthcare professionals. He has published extensively in this field with several books and many articles addressing different aspects of the spiritual dimension. In 2010 Wilf led on a piece of work for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) exploring members perceptions of spirituality.
Wilf is a founding and executive member of the International Network for the Study of Spirituality (Formerly British Association for The Study of Spirituality) and a Principal Fellow of The Higher Education Academy. In 2012 he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing for his unique contribution to nursing in the areas of spirituality and dignity. Wilf co-led a European project titled Enhancing Nurses Competence in Providing Spiritual Care through Innovation Education and Compassionate Care (EPICC).
