Spirituality in Nursing: Standing on Holy Ground, Edition 5
Through qualitative research, the author demonstrates the significance of spiritual care in nursing practice. O'Brien's passion for nursing as a sacred covenant sparkles through the case studies and comments from the nurses she interviewed. It is both scholarly and personal. The book covers all of the essential elements of the nurse's role in spiritual care, including assessment, intervention and the spiritual nature of the nurse-patient relationship.
Chapters one and two set the context for spiritual care in nursing with brief historical and theological overviews. The author surveys the current nursing literature on spirituality and spiritual care but takes a firm Christian position for her theology of caring, based on Luke 10:30-34 (the Good Samaritan). Her “Spiritual History of Nursing” in chapter two gives proper credit to nursing in the pre-Christian era but focuses primarily on the development of the formal role of the nurse in the early church and through both Catholic and Protestant nursing orders in more recent times.
The chapters that follow provide solid research into spiritual needs and the nurse's role in spiritual care. In addition to the nurse-patient relationship and the nurse's role in spiritual care, they include the spiritual needs of patients with acute and chronic illness, of children and families, of older adults and of those facing death and bereavement.
Additional chapters include “Parish Nursing: Caregiving within a Faith Community” and “Spiritual Needs in Mass Casualty Disaster.” The chapter on parish nursing gives an excellent overview of the movement, including a brief history and a small research study about the significance of spiritual care provided by parish nurses for the homebound chronically ill (one in a nursing home). The chapter on mass casualties includes an overview of disaster nursing, the spiritual needs of people involved in mass disasters and interviews with those involved in the September 11, 2001, bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
This book is greatly needed and will be an invaluable resource for nurses researching the spiritual dimension of nursing. O'Brien's research shows a deep yearning for God in the hearts of those who face illness and points out the crucial significance of nursing intervention. She demonstrates that good nursing requires care for the whole person, including the spiritual dimension. Spirituality in Nursing provides beautiful models for expert spiritual care, as well as a basis for further research.
—Reviewed by Judith A. Shelly, DMin, RN
(Adapted from a book review of an earlier edition originally posted in the Journal of Christian Nursing, Winter 2003)
