Development, implementation and evaluation of a communication model about spirituality in palliative cancer patients in Flanders.

The World Health Organization, in defining palliative care, combines control of pain and other symptoms with psychological, social, and spiritual care. Professional caregivers, and general practitioners in particular, often lack knowledge, attitudes and skills to talk about spirituality at the end of life. The aim of this project is to evaluate if an existing communication model, the diamond model, can help general practitioners and nurses to talk about spirituality with their palliative patients. Caregivers will use the diamond model in palliative home care, in the pilot study followed by a semistructured interview about their experiences. Then a larger study will be set up to evaluate the use of the diamond model by means of surveys.

Keywords:Spirituality, Palliative care, General practice, Home care, Communication

Disciplines:Education curriculum