The principles of holistic care are being increasingly implemented into nursing practice, with spirituality being among the least clearly studied. Nevertheless, multiple theoretical frameworks, such as Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring, have been proposed as guidelines for developing comprehensive nursing care approaches. The current study’s purpose is to assess the impact of prayer as a part of nursing care on the emotional state of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The study’s research question is: “Do Registered Nurses who utilize prayer with willing patients during chemotherapy find the patients less stressed after a treatment than patients who do not want to utilize prayer?”
Nurses are uniquely positioned to promote patients’ emotional and spiritual well-being, including during particularly stressful periods, such as cancer treatment therapy. Evidence exists that engaging in shared spiritual practices, including prayer, can positively affect cancer patients’ psychological stress, reducing their stress levels during and after treatment. For example, Komariah et al. (2020) demonstrate how shared religious activities, including prayers, improve the sense of purpose in life and feelings of peace and harmony in individuals undergoing chemotherapy, thus reducing overall stress levels. While the paper focused on Islam as the spiritual context, additional studies like the current one can show whether the results can be effectively extrapolated to other religions and faiths.
This approach aligns well with Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring theoretical framework. This holistic care framework emphasizes the interpersonal aspects of nursing, including shared spiritual experiences, and promotes the idea of treating individuals as parts of larger social, natural, and spiritual structures (Alligood, 2021). This model promotes interpersonal mind-body-soul engagement, which, in chemotherapy nursing, can be achieved through shared prayer (Polit & Beck, 2021). The framework’s Ten Caritas Processes establish what aspects of the shared prayer experience must be emphasized and observed during and after the intervention (Alligood, 2021). This way, it provides the theoretical and philosophical foundation for the current study, offering the basic principles on which further research will be based.
References
Alligood, M. R. (2021). Nursing theorists and their work. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Komariah, M., Hatthakit, U., & Boonyoung, N. (2020). Impact of Islam-based caring intervention on spiritual well-being in Muslim women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Religions, 11(7), 361–373.
Polit, D., & Beck, C. (2021). Essentials of nursing research: Appraising evidence for nursing practice (10ᵗʰ ed.). LWW.