Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Spiritual care remains the least explored dimension in the management of chronic pain.The present qualitative study seeks to explore in depth the spiritual needs of patients, the way in which they make sense of illness and pain, as well as the religious and/or spiritual practices they develop.Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with Orthodox Christian patients (experiencing neuropathic, cancer-related, or nociceptive pain) attending pain clinics at three public healthcare institutions.The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed using the method of thematic analysis.Nine themes emerged, following the Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual Model: the need for holistic care, the physician-patient relationship (Biological/Medical pillar), acceptance of illness and resilience (Psychological pillar), support network (Social pillar), meaning-making of illness, positive religious/spiritual reframing of pain, active/passive coping strategies, and practices of the Orthodox faith (Spiritual Dimension).The findings confirm the significance of religiosity/spirituality in palliative care, as patients with a well-established Orthodox religious identity made sense of their experience in a more positive manner and employed more active strategies to manage their lives despite the pain.The influence of faith and spiritual meaning-making included greater acceptance of illness, emotional resilience, and improved coping mechanisms.The findings highlight the role of physicians in spiritual assessment and underscore the need to integrate spiritual strategies into the management of chronic pain.Knowledge of these strategies can be incorporated into holistic care and contribute to the understanding of the multidimensional nature of chronic pain, thereby supporting therapeutic outcomes.
Author: Αγγελοσοπούλου, Αργυρούλα Α.
Language: Greek
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223532158