Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care?

Following a thorough evaluation and analysis of the current literature, this literature review aimed to enlighten the reader on the benefits, problems, issues and implications of including prayer for patients in the role of the nurse. The inclusion of religion and prayer within nursing care is not a...

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Main Author: French, Charlotte
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2009
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/23435/
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author French, Charlotte
author_facet French, Charlotte
author_sort French, Charlotte
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Following a thorough evaluation and analysis of the current literature, this literature review aimed to enlighten the reader on the benefits, problems, issues and implications of including prayer for patients in the role of the nurse. The inclusion of religion and prayer within nursing care is not a new phenomenon and spirituality has played a part in healthcare since ancient times. However, research studies into the effects of intercessory prayer have provided inconclusive results due to their abundant methodological, theological and ethical limitations. As this review highlights, there are ethical problems surrounding the use of prayer in nursing practice. There are also practical issues, including; how a nurse should pray, the appropriate actions of a nurse who does not wish to pray, the education of nurses, how a nurse should assess a patient in terms of spirituality. This literature review concludes that whilst the use of intercessory prayer as a medical intervention for physical illness may be premature, the use of prayer as a means of enabling a patient to express their spirituality and/or connect with a Divine Being is both appropriate and professional providing the nurse in question adheres to basic ethical principles whilst using intuition and sensitivity.
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spelling nottingham-234352018-01-01T21:35:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/23435/ Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care? French, Charlotte Following a thorough evaluation and analysis of the current literature, this literature review aimed to enlighten the reader on the benefits, problems, issues and implications of including prayer for patients in the role of the nurse. The inclusion of religion and prayer within nursing care is not a new phenomenon and spirituality has played a part in healthcare since ancient times. However, research studies into the effects of intercessory prayer have provided inconclusive results due to their abundant methodological, theological and ethical limitations. As this review highlights, there are ethical problems surrounding the use of prayer in nursing practice. There are also practical issues, including; how a nurse should pray, the appropriate actions of a nurse who does not wish to pray, the education of nurses, how a nurse should assess a patient in terms of spirituality. This literature review concludes that whilst the use of intercessory prayer as a medical intervention for physical illness may be premature, the use of prayer as a means of enabling a patient to express their spirituality and/or connect with a Divine Being is both appropriate and professional providing the nurse in question adheres to basic ethical principles whilst using intuition and sensitivity. 2009-07 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/23435/1/Charlotte_French_Dissertation_MNursSci.pdf French, Charlotte (2009) Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care? [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)
spellingShingle French, Charlotte
Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care?
title Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care?
title_full Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care?
title_fullStr Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care?
title_full_unstemmed Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care?
title_short Does Prayer Have a Place in Nursing Care?
title_sort does prayer have a place in nursing care?
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/23435/