Spiritual Care for Cardiac Patients: Barriers and Policy Implications

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Palestinians. Providing spiritual care is one of the means that are used to relieve stress and consequently, decrease number and length of hospitalization of cardiac patients. Recently, more attention has been paid to spirituality in health care. As a result, many hospitals in the Western countries started to offer spiritual care to their clients. In Gaza Strip, there is no clear policy related to spiritual care. The present study aimed to assess if spiritual care is provided to hospitalized cardiac patients who live in Gaza Strip, who should provide this care, explore the barriers to provision of such care, and how to overcome these barriers. A total of 279 cardiac patients and 12 healthcare providers participated in the study. Results revealed that there is a severe shortage of spiritual care provision to cardiac patients. The majority preferred that nurses provide such spiritual care to them. Barriers to provide spiritual care included inadequate education and training, ambiguity about spirituality, inadequate time, shortage of staff, policy-related barriers, and individual-related barriers. Recommended strategies to overcome the