Impact of a Standardised Screening on the Assessment and Addressing of Spiritual Needs in Inpatient Palliative Care in Germany: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Authors

Wiebke Grunthal, Florian Bernhardt, Leo Wittenbecher, Arndt Büssing, Philipp Lenz

Published in

Journal of religion and health. Aug 10, 2026. Epub Aug 10, 2026.

Abstract

Spiritual Care is a recognised dimension of Palliative Care, yet its provision is often inadequate. This study aimed to improve the identification of patients' spiritual needs using a standardised screening, address these more effectively in everyday Palliative Care, and evaluate potential benefits of this intervention. We conducted a monocentric, mixed-methods, quasi-experimental, pre-post study. For a six-month period (12/2023-05/2024), patients attended by an inpatient Palliative Care consultation service in a tertiary hospital were screened for spiritual needs using the Spiritual Needs Screener. Hospital chaplaincy documentation was also considered. Results were compared with data on spirituality of a retrospective comparison cohort. We conducted three focus groups with Palliative Care team representatives. Data from 100 patients in the prospective interventional cohort were compared with data of the retrospective comparison cohort (n = 651). Improvements were observed in all aspects compared: The number of visits documented by hospital chaplaincy increased, patients' requests for Spiritual Care were recorded more thoroughly, and spiritual support was recommended to patients more frequently. The focus groups highlighted multi-professionalism as a prerequisite to implement Spiritual Care, the increased awareness of the spiritual dimension, and a differentiated assessment of the feasibility of standardised electronic screening. Implementing the screening improved recognising spiritual needs and emphasised hospital chaplains' role in healthcare. Our results show the importance of multi-professionalism to provide Spiritual Care, the increasing awareness of Spiritual Care as consequence of this study at the study location, and the possibility to overcome barriers in Spiritual Care implementation through sustainable, resource-efficient solutions.Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06206551; first posted: January 16, 2024.

PMID:
42573666
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Aug 2026.

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