癌症病人之靈性評估與照護

Spiritual Assessment and Care of Cancer Patients

唐婉如(Woung-Ru Tang)

《腫瘤護理雜誌》 8卷1期 (2008/06) Pp. 13-25

https://doi.org/10.6880/TJON.200806_8(1).02

摘要

靈與靈性是癌症病患生活品質非常重要的部份，就算身體上沒有痛苦，心靈也許會因為找不到人生的意義而苦惱，在講求全人照護的今日，靈性安適的評估其重要性不言而喻，可惜臨床上醫護人員對靈性的評估極度缺乏，一方面因為靈性及靈性照顧本身的定義及內涵不明確，另一方面可能與國人對「靈性」一詞不了解，常與宗教畫上等號，造成病患與醫療人員之間因定義不清而產生混淆。有鑑於此，筆者綜合文獻，深入淺出地介紹靈性的定義、相關層面及其評估工具，並將Paloutzian與Ellison(1982)所發展的靈性安適量表(spiritual well-being scale; SWBS)翻譯成中文，希望能有助於癌症病患的靈性評估。此外筆者亦透過正反兩個實例來闡述自然與他人對病患靈性安適的影響，並介紹增進靈性的措施。醫護人員應先檢視自己的靈性狀態，了解甚麼情況會讓自己的靈性豐盈？而甚麼狀況會讓靈性低落？由平日的生活中細心體會，藉由欣賞繪畫、音樂、與接近大自然中培養靈性之美。文中特別強調回歸基本的重要性，一句親切的問候、主動向病患與家屬做自我介紹、稱呼病人的名字、及自然的微笑都可以發揮意想不到的功效，將我們與病患緊緊相連，讓病患即使在身體的病痛之下仍能展現笑顏、發現希望、並維持靈性的祥和安適。

關鍵字

靈性 ； 靈性評估 ； 靈性照護

並列摘要

Spirit and spirituality constitutes very crucial aspects of cancer patients' quality of life. In spite of no physical affliction, one may suffer spiritually due to the inability to find meaning in life. As health care emphasizes the patients' overall well-being today, the assessment of spiritual wellbeing has important impacts on cancer patients' quality of life. Unfortunately health care providers seldom evaluate patients' spiritual well-being, because of the absence of a clear definition and meaning for spirituality and spiritual care, and the misunderstanding of ”spirit” and ”spirituality. Most health care providers think that spirituality development is equal to religions. Therefore, health care providers and patient are confused due to the unclear definition and miscommunication. In view of this, the researcher reviewed and summarized the related literature to provide the reader a clear definition of ”spirituality”, relevant aspects and measurement tools. Furthermore, the author translated the Spiritual Well-being Scale (SWBS) that was developed by Paloutzian and Ellison in 1982 into Chinese. The use of the SWBS is expected to improve the evaluation of cancer patients' spiritual well-being. Moreover, the author also used two pro and con case examples to describe the impact of nature and others on patients' spirituality. It is expected that the spiritual care discussed in this article will remind health care providers examining their own spiritual well-being. Health care providers are able to identify the circumstance that they themselves would feel rich in spiritually, and the circumstance that they would feel despaired. Care providers can cultivate the beauty of spirituality from experiencing daily living, appreciating paintings and music, and approaching nature. This article also emphasizes the importance of returning to the ”basics”. The unexpected effects can be generated through greeting each other, introducing oneself to patients and their families, calling the patient's name, and naturally smiling. These natural actions establish close connections between the care providers and the patients. The close connections help the patients feel positive, discover hope, and maintain spiritual well-being even during the time when they suffer from physical ailments.

並列關鍵字

Spirituality ； spiritual assessment ； spiritual care