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OUR WORK
Providing and evaluating best practice spiritual care
Patient Reported Outcome Measures Project
The project involved two phases, and this year the focus was on completing phase 2. A total of 4750 questionnaires, using the Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM), were distributed to patients
who met the selection criteria following discharge from five general hospitals – two in metropolitan Melbourne, one in regional Victoria and two in Adelaide.
Evaluation of the ‘model fit’ indicated an appropriate fit with the data set. Further study for cross-validity of the scale in different samples or populations was recommended. This is currently underway using data from international PROM surveys.
Overall, individuals with higher scores on Quality of Spiritual Care believed that the spiritual care they received was helpful and appreciated. When controlling for religious/ spiritual beliefs, those who received spiritual care reported significantly higher PROM scores compared with those who did not receive spiritual care. Qualitative data analysis produced three main themes:
‹ the degree to which the spiritual care received met the needs of patients
‹ the qualities of providers of spiritual care that were appreciated by patients
‹ the impact of the spiritual care received.
Recommendations from the project are to improve:
‹ referral systems for spiritual care
‹ electronic data systems to enable electronic survey methods.
See the Publications section for further details about this research.
Guidelines for Quality Spiritual Care in Health: launch and implementation
The Guidelines for Quality Spiritual Care in Health provide a framework to support a consistent approach to safe and high- quality spiritual care for patients, families, carers and staff in acute and sub-acute health care, inclusive of palliative and mental health care.
The guidelines were launched at our Special General Meeting on 8 October by Angie Dalli from the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Healthcare. Spiritual Health Association (SHA) received important public feedback and, after further broad consultation, the guidelines were revised. The final version was published in February 2020, and circulated to our stakeholders in New Zealand, USA and the United Kingdom, to Victorian CEOs and Directors of Allied Health, and state health ministers (see https://spiritualhealth.org.au/standards).
The guidelines are also being used by health services in Victoria and interstate to implement best practice spiritual care. In collaboration with Standards and Performance Pathways, an online Gap Analysis has been developed for health services to assess their provision of spiritual care (see https://spp. ngoservicesonline.com.au/).
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