Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice
Details and Description
Description
Ever since the first edition of Verna Benner Carson's Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice went out of print, second-hand copies have been highly sought after by practitioners in the field and nursing school faculty who appreciated the comprehensive scope of the seminal work on spirituality and health. In this highly anticipated revised edition, Carson and her co-editor, Harold G. Koenig, have thoroughly revised and updated this classic in the field.
The revised edition builds on the foundations laid in the first, providing perspectives on new research in the spiritual dimensions of nursing care, applying nursing theory to spiritual care, and addressing the spiritual needs of both nurses and patients. It also examines ethical issues in nursing and the impact of legal decisions on health care issues. Contributors address issues of spiritual development across the entire lifespan—from the spiritual needs and influences of the very young to the elderly, including those facing chronic illnesses or death. The volume takes a similarly broad approach in addressing spiritual issues from a variety of faith backgrounds—including both theistic and pantheistic religious practices, so that nurses can be prepared to meet the needs of patients from various religious traditions.
Second to chaplains, nurses are the major providers of spiritual care, and no other book will serve their needs like Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice.
Table of Contents
Preface / vii
Part I Spirituality and the Nursing Profession / 1
1. Spirituality: Defining the Indefinable and Reviewing Its Place in Nursing / 3
Verna Benner Carson and Ruth Stoll
2. Religion, Spirituality, and Health: Understanding the Mechanisms / 33
Harold G. Koenig
Part II Spirituality, Religion, and Health Care: Examining the Relationships / 63
3. Theism and Health Care / 65
Verna Benner Carson
4. Eastern Pantheism and Health Care / 86
Verna Benner Carson
5. The Legal Issues: Religion versus Health Care / 101
Patricia C. McMullen and Nayna D. C. Philipsen
Part III Application of Theory to Spiritual Needs: What Does Spiritual Care Look Like? / 123
6. Spirituality: Identifying and Meeting Spiritual Needs / 125
Verna Benner Carson
7. The Psychospiritual Lives of Ill or Suffering Children and Adolescents: What We Should Know, What We Should Do / 154
Pat Fosarelli
8. Adult Spirituality for Persons with Chronic Illness / 193
Patricia E. Murphy, George Fitchett, and Andrea L. Canada
9. Spirituality and Elder Care / 236
Thomas E. DeLoughry
10. Spirituality in Death and Bereavement / 279
Miriam Jacik
Part IV The Thread of Spirituality through Community, Ethics Work, and Education / 309
11. Spiritual Care in Communities / 311
Nancy Christine Shoemaker
12. Ethical Decision Making and Spirituality / 330
Gary Batchelor
13. Spirituality within Educational and Work Environments / 372
Elizabeth Arnold
Contributors / 405
Index
Endorsements and Reviews
Reviews
Health Progress—May/June Issue
For nurses and other health care providers, Verna Carson’s and Harold Koenig’s text will provide useful and timely information on the role of spirituality in health care. . . . To better provide spiritual care for others, we must first identify and be comfortable with our own beliefs. Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice will help readers do both. —Kim S. Moore
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith—Vol. 61, No. 4
The second edition of Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice is a timely update that fulfills its specified goals. This book constitutes an excellent addition to the nursing and allied health literature.
CHOICE—Vol. 46, No. 9
The revised edition of this classic work (1st ed., written by V. Carson, 1989) makes a case for the universality of spirituality, spirituality’s absolute necessity in nursing, and the ability of practitioners of nursing to engage in spiritual care. It would be applicable to other practitioners besides nurses, but this reviewer believes that students in nursing or other disciplines need a sufficient curriculum offered in professional programs to adequately use this book’s important content. Faculty definitely will benefit from the rich resources it offers for spiritual care. The book’s four parts provide an overview of spirituality and the nursing profession; relationships between spirituality, religion, and health care; the application of theory to spiritual needs; and spirituality within communities, in ethical decision making, and within certain environments. Helpful features include tables, scenarios, conversations, assessments, strategies, resources, and reflective activities. Discussions of spirituality, ethics, and environments are the icing on the cake. —J. Clawson, University of Central Missouri