This material was presented in the 25th European Congress of Psychiatry which was organised by the European Psychiatry Association in Florence, Italy from 1-4th April 2017. I had access to the material as I attended the full Congress. Please note that this material remains the intellectual property of the European Psychiatry Association and its authors and any citation should include a full reference to it. For more information on the EPA and how to become a member, please visit: http://www.europsy.net/

1. (1) Psychoanalyst, Mastering of Nursing School of State University of Campinas; (2) Nurse, Mastering of Nursing School of State
University of Campinas; Psychiatrist, (3) Full Professor at Medical School of State University of Campinas; (4) Nurse, Professor at
Nursing School of State University of Campinas.
G. Lavorato-Neto1, L. Rodrigues2, E.R. Turato3, C.J.G. Campos4
.
Spirituality meanings reported by Southeast Brazilian nursing staff
at the psychiatric ward of a university general hospital:
A clinical-qualitative study
Conclusions:
Even the meanings about spirituality of the team are covered for
symbolism which expresses the human attitude to help in life crises they
are surrounded by contradictions that outlines the spiritual dimension of
them, including vision of caring for it, in the limits of the reason, thus
approximating caries and patients in a close perspective of how life is
faced by booth , what causes weirdness. Nursing staff still need to be
trained to deliver a holistic care that cover spiritual dimension, and need
spiritual counseling to gain clarity in this issue.
References:
1. Raffay J. How staff and patient experience shapes our perception of
spiritual care in a psychiatric setting. J Nurs Manag. outubro de
2014;22(7):940–950 11p.
2. Murakami R, Campos CJG. Religion and mental health: the challenge
of integrating religiosity to patient care. Rev Bras Enferm. março de
2012;65(2):361–367 7p.
3. Mohr WK. Spiritual issues in psychiatric care. Perspect Psychiatr
Care. agosto de 2006;42(3):174–83.
4. Lee E, Zahn A, Baumann K. How do Psychiatric Staffs Approach
Religiosity/Spirituality in Clinical Practice? Differing Perceptions
among Psychiatric Staff Members and Clinical Chaplains. Religions.
setembro de 2015;6(3):930–47.
5. Elliott R. Spirituality, mental health nursing and assessment. J
Community Nurs. 5 de junho de 2011;25(3):4–10 5p.
6. Ledger P, Bowler D. Meeting spiritual needs in mental health care.
Nurs Times. 5 de março de 2013;109(9):21–3.
7. Stuart GW. Mind to care and a future of hope. J Am Psychiatr Nurses
Assoc. 11/01/2010 de 2010;16(6):360–365 6p.
8. Ricoeur P. Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation. Motilal
Banarsidass Publishe; 2008.
Introduction:
Despite of new holistic trends in nursing care, in psychiatric wards of
general hospital the spiritual dimension of caring remains controversy(1–5).
The evidence in literature shows spirituality rule in mental health as
promoting wellbeing, transcendence connections with sacred sphere, the
inner being, others and community, supreme powers, it is part of religious
experience and part of human symbolic cosmology to meaning life
experience(6,7). Literature also alerts about complications associated to
psychosis and spirituality and rule of appropriate training and ethics to
drive clinical situation on therapeutic relationship (4,8–12) in caring . An
interesting gap is pointed out: “there are fewer studies undertaken on how
the attitude of nurse towards spirituality and their spiritual beliefs affects the
outcome of a mental health assessment”(9). All of these contradictory alerts
corroborate the statement that clients spiritual needs could be neglected in
psychiatric nursing care (1–5).
In this study we explore the spirituality meanings attributed by a nursing
team working in a psychiatric ward of a Brazilian General Hospital and try
to understand how these meanings affect caring.
Method:
The Clinical-Qualitative Method(13) is an arrange of qualitative strategies
to approach symbolic research questions in health settings. The researcher
proceeds in the field approaching his subjects guided by the three pillars
attitudes of method: the existentialist, the clinical and the psychoanalytic, in
sense to collect deep meanings around subjects anguishing. Ethical
contentment was obtained from Unicamp Research Ethics Committee, and a
semi-structured interview was carried out for the first author with the team
of 18 (Table 1) nursing professionals of the psychiatric ward that compose
the intentional sample. Analysis of interviews followed the Ricoeur’s
hermeneutics(14) based on Freudian psychoanalysis to symbolic meaning
which affirms that a statement revels multiple meanings overlapped.
Researcher selected subjects’ declarations that reflected overlapped
meanings in functions of research questions that expressed their
comprehension about their own spirituality, or of their clients, and clinical
value of it.
Results:
Spirituality is developed from several sources of restlessness and living
together:
“We just remember more of God, we just get closer to God’s feet, seeing the
spirituality perspective, when you past through a suffering” (Aristotle)
“the hospital shapes you, … you have the obligation for your work schedule,
duty to colleague, and a lot of situation that ley you spiritualist, for the own
hospital dynamic, it just let you a spiritualist person” ( Hephaestus)
The function of spirituality is helping fulfill the social role, keep the internal
balance and to maintaining sacred practices attitudes towards life that brings
symbolic salvation: help or redemption to hard life times:
“If I spiritually ok, if I’m ok, let’s say that, with myself, I can do a good job, be a
good son, a good father, a good husband” (Aristotle)
“it’s what gives me balance, mainly to profession” (Aesculapius)
“And, after a time of reluctance, I give thanks, because it was the best for me…
tomorrow I’m going to start to think in alternative possibilities and ways to get
where I want to” (Roman)
“I saw that this way, this belief, could save many people ... in the matter of the
needy family, it helped them both in the feeding as in the spiritual part, they
didn’t have content” (Spartacos)
Nature of mental illness remains as spiritual stigma for professionals and a
contradictorily suspicion to spiritual approach caring to patients in wards which is
described as inappropriate or confusable.
“For me, psychiatry has everything to do with spirituality. It only has to do with
spituality… Mut mainly I guess it is spiritual perturbation because all of us have
weakness” (Aesculapius);
“In psychiatry we pray, but just in home, because it doesn’t match. Very mess the
patient's head.” (Filofrosine)
Codename G Degree
Religion Years
Position Since
degree
Career Working in
Ward
Amazon F Intrp. Higher Technician Evangelical 0 17 0,5
Achilles M Higher Nurse Catholic 7 7 4
Aristotle M Higher Technician Catholic Studying 6 6
Atalanta F Higher Technician Catholic Studying 7 4
Crispus M Higher Nursing Spiritist 24 20 20
Equestry M Higher Technician Catholic 3 8 1
Erine F Higher Assistant Evangelical 15 32 20
Aesculapius F Higher Nurse Espírita 26 26 4
Filofrosine F Technician Technician Evangelical 15 15 9
Hephaestus M Technician Technician Spiritist 29 37 15
Medina F Technician Technician Evangelical 2 1,9 1
Olympia F Higher Nurse Catholic 30 30 23
Pinna F Technician Technician Catholic 6 18 6
Fold M Technician Technician Catholic 11 35 15
Rhodopis F Technician Technician Evangelical 8 16 8
Roman F Higher Nurse Catholic 7 7 1
Spartacos M Higher Technician Catholic 18 18 2,1
Zakinthio M Technician Technician Evangelical 17 17 11
Table 1- Sampling characterization