Effects of a Meaning-Centered Spiritual Care Training Program for Hospice Palliative Care Teams in South Korea: A Nonrandomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Spiritual care is an essential part and a core component of quality palliative care, as identified by the World Health Organization. However, spiritual care training for hospice palliative care teams (HPCTs) is infrequent.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a meaning-centered spiritual care training program for HPCTs (McSCTP-HPCT).

Methods: This study used a nonrandomized controlled design. The McSCTP-HPCT comprised 5 modules. The participants were HPCTs working in 15 national hospice institutions and were allocated to either the experimental group (n = 33) or the control group (n = 27) based on the participating institutions' preference. Three outcome variables were tested: spiritual care competency, spiritual care therapeutics, and compassion fatigue. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ 2 test, 1-way analysis of variance, and repeated-measures analysis of variance.

Results: There was a significant difference in the interaction between measurement time and group assignment in spiritual care competency ( P = .002) and spiritual care therapeutics ( P = .038), whereas no significant difference was found for compassion fatigue ( P = .716).

Conclusion: The McSCTP-HPCT conducted in this study shows effectiveness in increasing the spiritual care competency and spiritual care therapeutics of HPCTs and may support the importance of spiritual care training.