How old is spirituality

Spirituality, although a contested concept, is evolving and developing and can be defined as a search for meaning with or without religious adherence. Person-centred care involves spiritual care - the time, attention and listening to support individuals to find meaning and purpose in their lives. It has been established that there are a range of activities and practices which can support these dimensions of spiritual care.

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Improving lives through knowledge, evidence and innovation. Breadcrumb Home Resources Insights Spirituality and ageing: implications for the care Spirituality and ageing: implications for the care and support of older people. Insight Published on 14 Jan What is spirituality? Five ways of thinking about spirituality include: Spirituality as part of a religious belief: A particular spirituality is a specific system, or schema of beliefs, virtues, ideals and principles which form a particular way to approach God, and therefore, all life in general Franciscan spirituality.

Spirituality as a secular concept: Spiritualties are those ideas, practices and commitments that nurture, sustain and shape the fabric of human lives, whether as individuals or communities King, p Spirituality as a metaphor for absence: Spirituality in all of its diverse forms and meanings names particular inadequacies that have been perceived or sensed within health care and it is these inadequacies that people wish to resist.

By raising the importance of meaning, purpose, hope, love, God or relatedness issues that often come to prominence during the experience of being ill, the language of spirituality points towards the gap between experience and current practices and becomes a point of resistance and protest against the absence of some kinds of care Swinton and Pattison, p Spirituality as a search for meaning with or without God: Spirituality recognises the human need for ultimate meaning in life, whether this is fulfilled through a relationship with God or some sense of another, or whether some other sense of meaning becomes the guiding force within the individual's life.

Human spirituality can also involve relationships with other people. It is concerned with quality of life, especially in areas that have not been closed off by technology and science. Spirituality may, or may not, be open to ideas of transcendence and to the possibility of the divine' Ferguson, xxix The contemporary use of the word 'spirituality': Spirituality refers to the deepest values and meanings by which people seek to live Spirituality as separate from religion Paley notes that it is only recently that spirituality has become separated from religion.

Spiritual care in health and social care policy There are a variety of health and social care policy drivers for incorporating spiritual care into practice.

NHS Spiritual care is usually given in one-to-one relationship, is completely person centred and makes no assumptions about personal conviction or life orientation. Spiritual Care Matters, 2.

Care sector 'You do not have to alter your values and beliefs in order to receive a service. Palliative care Meeting the end of life care needs of residents which 'should take into consideration their cultural, spiritual and religious needs and other life circumstances'. Dementia care 'Non-discrimination and equality, including rights to be free from discrimination-based age, disability, gender, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, social or other status.

World Health Organisation 'Health professions have largely followed a medical model which seeks to treat patients by focussing on medicines and surgery and gives less importance to beliefs and to faith. This reductionist or mechanistic view of patients as being only a material body is no longer satisfactory. Patients and physicians have begun to realise the value of elements such as faith, hope and compassion in the healing process.

The value of such 'spiritual elements in health and quality of life has led to research in this field in an attempt to move towards a more holistic view of health that includes a non-material dimension, emphasising the seamless connections between mind and body'.

WHO, Consultation on Spirituality, Religion and Personal Beliefs, The links between person-centred care, dignity and spiritual care Person-centred care is currently the preferred method of providing care 'that is responsive to individual personal preferences, needs and values and assuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions' NHS Scotland, p The theoretical basis for research on spirituality and ageing Research into ageing and spirituality is based on assumptions of ageing as a journey, as a search for meaning, balance, integration and reconciliation Mowat, Victor Frankl posits man's search for meaning as a dominant conscious and unconscious driver.

His incarceration in Auschwitz concentration camp during the second world war offered him the opportunity to develop his theories as part of his own survival strategy.

His very powerful ideas of the capacity of man to be stripped of all the 'trappings' of life and to still find ultimate meaning underpins much of the work subsequently produced on ageing and spirituality Kimble, ; Mackinlay, Erik and Joan Erikson theorised stages of life.

In each stage, the individual tries to achieve balance between two 'states' with associated virtues. In the later part of life, the balance to be struck is between integration and despair, and the virtue attached to this is wisdom Capps, The idea of journey and progression is built into this theory. Carl Jung was particularly interested in the second half of life and the importance of life review to find meaning. He wrote: one cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life's morning: for what was great in the morning will be of little importance in the evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening have become a lie Jung, , p Antonovsky was interested in what psychological processes allow people to maintain themselves in a state of good health.

His work on a sense of coherence develops a model and an empirically validated questionnaire which provides clinicians with a tool by which to assess a sense of coherence. A strong sense of internal coherence helps support good health. Rev Baiana Enferm ;26 3 This was first determined by an approach to the study setting that consisted of knowing the elders of the groups, were informal visits, dynamics known as approach to the study setting, in order to enter the stage.

At a certain point they were asked if they felt full in this stage of old age, that question was selected because the fullness is the manifestation of transcendence and it was more understandable for them. Those who answered affirmatively were invited to participate in the study, were made aware of the purpose of the study and proceeded with the informed consent and general information of their participation.

A sample of 11 elders was obtained that was achieved when reaching the theoretical saturation and this was achieved when converging different units of meaning to understand transcendence.

The phenomenological interview allowed to penetrate into the subjectivity of being and allowed him to reveal himself through his historicity. The interviews were conducted from May to August and their duration was between 50 and minutes.

These were audio-recorded with the authorization of participants and carried out by the main investigator in the space in which participants expressed feeling comfortable. In the gerontological center there was a place to perform them, in the group of retirees participants decided the most comfortable place to carry out the interview.

All the interviews were faithfully transcribed by the main researcher in Microsoft Word and the information was treated in Excel Tables. The analysis was of artisanal type through the hermeneutic circle of Heidegger that includes precomprehension approach to the phenomenon in the speeches and literature: ontic vague understanding ; understanding ontological and interpretation giving meaning to the units in the light of ontology 22 22 Kempfer SS, Prado LM, Sebold LF, Balbinot J, Girondi R.

Tempo Soc. In relation to the characteristics of participants, they were between 60 and 78 years old, the majority were women 9 , with a degree 7 , retired 6 and were Catholics In the speeches of participants the unity of meaning on the consciousness of a higher being for transcendence is appreciated, which includes two significant themes: spirituality and religiosity. The elder expresses the consciousness of a divine power, something elevated, metaphysical, whose name is god, recognizes that this power has accompanied him in his vital transit, sustains him, gives support, encouragement and strength.

That god accompanies him and gives him the necessary strength to face adversity, as expressed in the following speeches:. All those things I had to overcome [ I had a respiratory arrest [ It can be seen in the speeches that there is a clear difference between religion and spirituality, a remarkable clarification has been made between both, some beliefs teach that spirituality is a way for the human being to find himself. The elder can be spiritual rather than religious as expressed by Omana that referred to believe in God, but not be in the church, she conceptualizes the idea of God:.

In contrast, Karuna manifests to be in a specific group where they carry out practices such as prayers, songs, meditation; this corresponds to both religion and religiosity, the latter is conceived as the firm and convincing practice of religion.

I went back a year ago to join the Catholic group in a community called Malcaba [ In this previous sense, a human being can be spiritual but not have religion; can have religion, but not be religious, that is, or practice, but it is defined in a religion; In the end, it can be religious and have religion, but it can not be spiritual, that is, it is practiced but it cannot be understood. The majority of the elders manifested the term God, understood as a superior force that was present in all the stages of his life that moves his own existence and leaves the responsibility of his own death as it was treated in the subject of death.

Therefore, the idea of spirituality is related to the same belief of a Christian God. Elders use the concept of superior power with spirituality and religion. Spirituality in this section focuses on that higher power that is mentioned and that is throughout the existence and is manifested to the elder, even in the form of revelations that make him come out of difficult situations and that sustain him, as expressed by Madhavi who mentions that God spoke to him in the form of revelation to get her out of the alcoholism problems in which she lived.

Or as Ura who mentions that God allows him to overcome situations in life and that he allows him to do what he likes and that gives him fullness. Or Sati who recognizes that God gave him strength to cope with a situation of learning how to work:. Well, experiences of these that have been terrible in my life and I have seen that God has been with me [ God is great, God gives us what we can endure, he does not give us more, if God allows me and I have the resources, I can continue traveling, that is fullness.

Blessed be God who gave me strength, the learning how to work because I had never worked in my life, he supports me. The elder recognizes that God has accompanied him, that he provides him with strengths and mechanisms to live and motivates him by inspiring him the way forward, as Vani states that he thanked God for reaching his goals:. Blessed be my God after that road to travel so tremendous that still fills me with emotion, sometimes when I remember, but thank God and everything that happens I got to where I wanted to go because then my goal was to follow [ Following the analysis in the hermeneutical circle, it is necessary to establish an understanding and interpretation of the previous results.

Two concepts are central and stand out. Spirituality refers to a personal encounter of a human being with the intention of looking for a reason for his own existence, a connection of his interior with a search in aspects that he considers important for that existence, such as the end of life, death, the meaning of life or with something sacred or superior, like the concept of God, involves the transcendent term in the theological sense, something that surpasses me 14 14 Chaves LJ, Gil CA.

The religiosity in the process of living getting old. Spirituality does not always involve practices in an established system, nor dogmas. When this organized belief system appears and with dogmas, moral, ethical principles, or, a series of practices to be developed, then religion is talked about.

As can be seen in the speeches, both spirituality and religion are present in the elderly, a sense of connection, this connection term closely related to the gerontotranscendence theory that speaks of connection, communion, connection with the cosmic.

A cosmic connection is spirituality, a phenomenon that according to this theory increases in the last stage of life: old age 12 12 Tornstam L. Gerotranscendence theory: a fresh look at positive aging. Engaging Aging [Internet]. Tornstam's notion of gerotranscendence: Re-examining and questioning the theory. J Aging Stud. Thus, the phenomenon of transcending the elder can be revealed in the existence of the old being as a being, not as an entity, because it may not be transcendent, but as a being, as a whole.

The spiritual and religious phenomenon was revealed as self-care as part of the understanding of the elderly in its temporality and historicity, this understanding is the transcendence of himself. It is peculiar to this being to be, with his being and his being, open to himself.

Each experience that has taken him to where he is is a manifestation of his being and shows the existence of the elderly, this manifestation is his spiritual and religious essence.

Rev Bras Geriatr Gerontol. Spirituality as such, increases in old age, as a result of a preparation to death, while religious practice takes a form of coping manifested in the same stage but mostly focused on functional losses.

Not in so much, religious practices also help like confrontation to losses of social type, processes of mourning, a form to fill gaps that only God can fill with his concept of omnipresent and that gives peace and serenity to the elderly in front of this type of situations 14 14 Chaves LJ, Gil CA. Chronic disease in the elderly: spirituality and coping. Spirituality and religion: elderly's perception and understanding [Internet].

Indian J Gerontol. Thus, spirituality and religiosity arise as part of caring and is an essential part of self-care, or as Heidegger would say, of self-concern 7 7 Frankl V. It enunciates a finitude. This connection with a God is also reflected in the fact that some men say that they give their life and destiny to Him because they say they are aware that God will call them to another life, others make use of their blessings in their daily lives, always sharing that be superior to ones understanding of the world.

Fenomenologia da vida religiosa. Religiosity and spirituality are a phenomenon to bring the old being to its finitude configures it in its facticity. By taking these resources as at hand understands that they are for a manifestation in the way of being to exist in the world, religious and spiritual manifestations were present in the speeches. Increased social contact for older adults increases the likelihood that disease will be detected early and that older people will comply with treatment regimens because members of their community interact with them and ask them questions about their health and medical care.

Older people who have such community networks are less likely to neglect themselves. Religious faith also benefits caregivers. In a study of caregivers of patients with Alzheimer disease or terminal cancer, caregivers with a strong personal religious faith and many social contacts were better able to cope with the stresses of caregiving during a 2-year period.

Religion is not always beneficial to older adults. Religious devotion may promote excessive guilt, inflexibility, and anxiety. Religious preoccupations and delusions may develop in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or psychoses.

Certain religious groups discourage mental and physical health care, including potentially lifesaving therapies eg, blood transfusions, treatment of life-threatening infections, insulin therapy , and may substitute religious rituals eg, praying, chanting, lighting candles.

Some more rigid religious groups may isolate and alienate older people from nonparticipating family members and the broader social community. Inquiring about religious issues during a medical visit is appropriate under certain circumstances, including the following:. When patients are severely ill, under substantial stress, or near death and ask or suggest that a practitioner talk about religious issues. When patients tell a practitioner that they are religious and that religion helps them cope with illness.

Older adults often have distinct spiritual needs that may overlap with but are not the same as psychologic needs. Taking a spiritual history shows older patients that the health care practitioner is willing to discuss spiritual topics. Practitioners may ask patients whether their spiritual beliefs are an important part of their life, how these beliefs influence the way they take care of themselves, whether they are a part of a religious or spiritual community, and how they would like the health care practitioner to handle their spiritual needs.

Alternatively, a practitioner may ask patients to describe their most important coping mechanism. If the response is not a religious one, patients may be asked whether religious or spiritual resources are of any help. If the response is no, patients may be sensitively asked about barriers to those activities eg, transportation problems, hearing difficulties, lack of financial resources, depression, lack of motivation, unresolved conflicts to determine whether the reason is circumstances or their choice.

However, practitioners should not force religious beliefs or opinions on patients or intrude if patients do not want help. Many clergy members provide counseling services to older adults at home and in the hospital, often free of charge. Many older patients prefer such counseling to that from a mental health care practitioner because they are more satisfied with the results and because they believe such counseling does not have the stigma that mental health care does.

However, many clergy members in the community do not have extensive training in mental health counseling and may not recognize when older patients need professional mental health care. In contrast, many hospital clergy have extensive training in the mental, social, and spiritual needs of older people. Thus, including hospital clergy as part of the health care team can be helpful. They can often bridge the gap between hospital care and care in the community by communicating with clergy in the community.

Patients seek medical care for health-related reasons, not religious ones.