How Do Migrant Nursing Home Staff Relate to Religion in Their Work With Patients Who Are Approaching Death?

Academic Journal

Lavik MH; Chaplaincy Department, Stavanger University Hospital, Norway; Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Gripsrud BH; Department of Caring and Ethics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, Norway.
Ramvi E; Department of Caring and Ethics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, Norway.

Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association [J Holist Nurs] 2021 Sep; Vol. 39 (3), pp. 254-269. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Nov 25.

English

Aim: To investigate how migrant nursing home staff relate to religion in their care for patients who are approaching death.
Method and Theory: Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 migrant health care workers from five nursing homes in Norway. The overall analytic approach was hermeneutical. The parts and the whole were interpreted in light of each other to gain a "thick description" of the data material in order to show the ways in which experiential meaning-making draws on cultural webs of sign ificance.
Findings: Religion held various meanings for the migrant health care workers interviewed. Religious and cultural competence and knowledge of migrant nursing home staff was neither asked for by the management nor discussed in the staff group. The way our participants related to religion at work was therefore based on individual preferences and internalized practices.
Conclusion and Implication for Practice: Organized reflection groups among staff are needed in order to integrate and develop religious literacy in the multicultural nursing home setting. Such reflection groups can help the individual staff member to perform holistic nursing, that is, to be attentive of the interconnectedness of biological, social, psychosocial, and spiritual aspects in a human being.