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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Clinicians' attitudes to spirituality in old age psychiatry | | Author(s) | Robert M Lawrence, Julia Head, Georgina Christodoulou |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 19, no 5, October 2007 |
| Pages | pp 962-973 |
| Source | http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_IPG |
| Keywords | Spiritual characteristics [elderly] ; Psychiatric treatment ; Attitude ; Psychiatrists ; Social surveys. |
| Annotation | In 2002, all registered members of the Faculty of the Psychiatry of Old Age in the UK were sent a 21-question semi-structured questionnaire to investigate their professional attitudes to the presence and value of spiritual care. A second mail shot was sent to non-respondents in 2003. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out on the answers received. The response rate was 40%. The majority of respondents (92%) recognise the importance of spiritual dimensions of care for older people with mental health needs, and about of a quarter of respondents appear to consider referring patients to the chaplaincy service. In contrast, integration of spiritual advisers within the assessment and management of individual cases is rare. Opinions vary as to whether provision of spiritual care should become widely available to older people with mental health needs who are admitted to hospital. Old age psychiatrists recognise that awareness of spiritual dimensions may be important for their patients. They seem less clear about the role of spiritual advisers and how NHS multidisciplinary clinical teams and spiritual and pastoral care services can be best integrated. Much work needs to be done on developing effective training and operational policies in this area. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-071114206 A |
| Classmark | EX: LP: DP: QT9: 3F |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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