Background and Objective: Assessment of the patients' spiritual care needs is an integral part of palliative care. We developed a semi-structured interview with the acronym SPIR, based on the FICA interview by C. Puchalski. The aim of the study is to test the effect of the administration of the SPIR to palliative care patients in different contexts and by different professionals.
Methods: The study takes place in two outpatient settings (a private oncology practice and a psycho-oncology outpatient clinic) and two inpatient settings (patients followed by the Palliative Care Hospital Support Team in the Munich University Hospital, and a comparison group of patients with non-life-threatening, non-chronic illnesses from the same hospital). All patients are assessed with the SPIR and then asked to rate the helpfulness and the distress caused by the interview using visual analogue scales. The interviewer answers the same questions for him/herself. The palliative care inpatients are randomly assigned to receive the assessment from either the physician or the chaplain.
Results and Discussion: Data collection is ongoing, detailed results will be shown at the meeting. The first data indicate a high acceptance of the patients when the spiritual needs assessment is performed by a physician. Some members of the chaplaincy report ambivalent feelings about their double role as pastoral care workers and researchers in this context. The involvement of chaplains in a scientific study aimed at evaluating practical aspects of spiritual care is a new step in the multiprofessional cooperation in palliative care at our hospital. We hope that this study will help strengthen the role of spiritual care within the provision of medical care to patients with life-threatening illnesses.