Mapping religion and spirituality in an Irish palliative care setting

Kellehear's (2000) proposed theoretical model of spiritual care suggests that there is considerable interaction and overlap between situational, biographical and religious needs and the social and cultural contexts in which people are located. This article reports a study that used a cartographic approach to "map" understandings of religion and spirituality in an Irish palliative care setting (MacConville, 2004). Aspects of religion and spirituality have been explored within a multilayered Irish cultural setting to reveal a complex landscape-a landscape that is changing but which draws upon the past in shaping the present.