A look into spirituality in social work practice within the hospice setting

Social workers are part of the multidisciplinary team providing holistic care to people within the hospice setting; however, concerns exist about the preparation of social workers to address spiritual issues. An exploratory qualitative study with 16 experienced hospice social workers was conducted to examine the impact of hospice work on social worker spirituality and vice versa. Results indicated that matters involving spirituality arose frequently in the work and 15 participants had offered spiritual care to a patient in need, despite many of them not feeling prepared by their education to do so. Implications for social work hospice practice and for social work education are discussed.