ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the policy context in hospice care, focussing on religion, belief and spirituality. It scrutinises the key policy documents and how religion, belief and spirituality are placed in them. This is important to gain further insight on the guidelines that directly inform professional practice. In more detail, the chapter begins with an exploration of policies pertinent to hospice care. This exploration gives evidence of how religion, belief and spirituality are negotiated aspects of care, as well as people's identities. The chapter provides a firm analysis of such documents and highlights the contested use of the terms ‘religion’, ‘belief’ and ‘spirituality’ in policy and how that shapes practise. The overall aim of the chapter is to set the policy context of how religion, belief and spirituality are integrated into the care of people near the end of their lives, or with conditions often threatening to their lives. This information better prepares readers to contrast the arguments of the second part of the book against the current policy framework as it shapes practise, and provides a platform for drawing conclusions and highlighting future trends in Part III of the book.
