Development of a buddhist spiritual care model for people at the end of life

Abstract

© 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. The delivery of spiritual care in Thailand is hampered by the absence of a model for health care providers that has contextual relevance within the country. Our aim is to develop a Buddhist Spiritual Care Model to guide health care providers in Thailand in the delivery of spiritual care practices for people at the end of life. The new Buddhist Spiritual Care Model builds upon the strength of existing Judeo-Christian theoretical models and extends those to a context where chaplains, for example, play no role in the care of hospital patients. To support Thai nurses in the delivery of Buddhist spiritual care, we have chosen to use 4 familiar steps from the nursing process (needs assessment, planning of actions, activities related to the plan, and effectiveness of activities). This is a thinking structure familiar enough to understand through which health care providers can be encouraged to begin to see themselves delivering spiritual care for people at the end of life and their family members. This theoretical model is conceptualized to allow health care providers to implement spiritual care within the normative environments in Thailand, regardless of their own spiritual affiliations and without relying on a specialist spiritual provider.