Abstract
The connections between health and wholeness, and religion and spirituality have been topics of curiosity for centuries. Opinions have spanned the continuum of helpful to unhelpful relationships. It occasionally has become the subject of an academic paper or book. Beginning with the solid work and research of Kenneth Pargament and Harold Koenig, the disciplines of medicine and mental health began to view the potentially beneficial relationship between religion and spirituality and health more thoughtfully.
There are numerous academic articles and books examining the role of religion and spirituality in healthcare. Much of this is in reference to adults and adolescents; a smaller proportion delves into what religion or spirituality means to children and attempts to assess its impact on their lives. An even smaller proportion considers children who have life-threatening diseases or injuries.
This chapter explores ways of identifying and understanding the spiritual dimension of children, ways of assessing its real or potential benefit, and ways of interacting with children around their spiritual values, needs, and distresses.
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Ennis-Durstine, R.K., Brown, R.M. (2016). Spiritual Care in Pediatric Oncology. In: Abrams, A., Muriel, A., Wiener, L. (eds) Pediatric Psychosocial Oncology: Textbook for Multidisciplinary Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21374-3_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21374-3_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
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