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Whose role? Oncology practitioners’ perceptions of their role in providing spiritual care to advanced cancer patients

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine how oncology nurses and physicians view their role in providing spiritual care (SC), factors influencing this perception, and how this belief affects SC provision.

Methods

This is a survey-based, multisite study conducted from October 2008 to January 2009. All oncology physicians and nurses caring for advanced cancer patients at four Boston, MA cancer centers were invited to participate; 339 participated (response rate = 63 %).

Results

Nurses were more likely than physicians to report that it is the role of medical practitioners to provide SC, including for doctors (69 vs. 49 %, p < 0.001), nurses (73 vs. 49 %, p < 0.001), and social workers (81 vs. 63 %, p = 0.001). Among nurses, older age was the only variable that was predictive of this belief [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.08; 1.01–1.16, p = 0.02]. For nurses, role perception was not related to actual SC provision to patients. In contrast, physicians’ role perceptions were influenced by their intrinsic religiosity (AOR, 1.44; 95 % CI, 1.09–1.89; p = 0.01) and spirituality (AOR, 6.41; 95 % CI, 2.31–17.73, p < 0.001). Furthermore, physicians who perceive themselves as having a role in SC provision reported greater SC provision to their last advanced cancer patients seen in clinic, 69 % compared to 31 %, p < 0.001.

Conclusions

Nurses are more likely than physicians to perceive medical practitioners as having a role in SC provision. Physicians’ perceptions of their role in SC provision are influenced by their religious/spiritual characteristics and are predictive of actual SC provision to patients. Spiritual care training that includes improved understanding of clinicians’ appropriate role in SC provision to severely ill patients may lead to increased SC provision.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interests to declare. The authors have had full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review the data, if requested.

Funding

The authors received the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award and Career Development Award (TAB), John Templeton Foundation Award (TJV), Healthcare Chaplaincy Award (TAB, TJV, and MJB), and University of Chicago Program in Religion and Medicine Faculty Scholars Award (MJB).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, 610 University Avenue, 5th floor, Toronto, ON, M5G 2M9, Canada

    Danielle Rodin

  2. Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Danielle Rodin, Christine Mitchell & Tyler J. VanderWeele

  3. Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Michael Balboni, Christine Mitchell & Tracy A. Balboni

  4. Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Patrick T. Smith

  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Tracy A. Balboni

  6. Division of Population Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Tracy A. Balboni

Authors
  1. Danielle Rodin
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  2. Michael Balboni
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  3. Christine Mitchell
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  4. Patrick T. Smith
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  5. Tyler J. VanderWeele
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  6. Tracy A. Balboni
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Correspondence to Danielle Rodin.

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Rodin, D., Balboni, M., Mitchell, C. et al. Whose role? Oncology practitioners’ perceptions of their role in providing spiritual care to advanced cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 23, 2543–2550 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2611-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2611-2

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