ABSTRACT
Three examples set the scene for exploring the theme ‘disembodied souls or soul-less bodies: spirituality as fragmentation.’ First, in a discussion with a group of postgraduate palliative care nurses from a variety of practice settings, only three could state with confidence that they and their team integrated spirituality into their holistic care of patients and families. For some in the group, spiritual care was declared to be irrelevant to their practice; for others it was considered a purely private matter. For those who took the view that these matters were private, it followed that any disclosure from patient to nurse that sounded remotely ‘spiritual’ should remain confidential and, accordingly, should not be documented. It is ironic that the same nurses have no qualms at all about inquiring into their patients’ intimate sexual history, or recording in detail their patients’ bowel excretions, or carefully documenting their patients’ highly individual and personal responses to pain. While all of the students agreed that palliative care is holistic care, it was evident that spiritual care was neither well understood nor widely practiced. Spirituality was generally regarded as being remote from bodily needs. A more integrated view of spirituality would acknowledge the inherent overlap of spiritual and physical, precisely when dealing with such matters as sex, bowels, and pain.
