Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30736416›Full record

ReviewMedical sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2019

Spiritual Care in Palliative Care: A Systematic Review of the Recent European Literature.

Marie-José H E Gijsberts, Anke I Liefbroer, René Otten, Erik Olsman

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
92citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

92 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  20. Intersectionality-Informed HIV Cure-Related Research at the End of Life: A Call to Action.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026
    Article

32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Marie-José H E GijsbertsEnd-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel & Ghent University, Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090 Brussel, Belgium. Marie-Jose.Gijsberts@vub.be.
Anke I LiefbroerFaculty of Religion and Theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1115, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.i.liefbroer@vu.nl.
René OttenVU University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. r.otten@vu.nl.
Erik OlsmanDepartment of Medical Ethics & Health Law, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands. erik.olsman@lumc.nl.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many studies on spiritual care in palliative care are performed in the US, leaving other continents unexplored. The objective of this systematic review is to map the recent studies on spiritual care in palliative care in Europe. PubMed, CINAHL, ATLA, PsycINFO, ERIC, IBSS, Web of Science, EMBASE, and other databases were searched. Included were European studies published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2015, 2016, or 2017. The characteristics of the included studies were analyzed and a narrative synthesis of the extracted data was performed. 53 articles were included. Spiritual care was seen as attention for spirituality, presence, empowerment, and bringing peace. It implied creative, narrative, and ritual work. Though several studies reported positive effects of spiritual care, like the easing of discomfort, the evidence for spiritual care is low. Requirements for implementation of spiritual care in (palliative) care were: Developing spiritual competency, including self-reflection, and visibility of spirituality and spiritual care, which are required from spiritual counselors that they participated in existing organizational structures. This study has provided insight into spiritual care in palliative care in Europe. Future studies are necessary to develop appropriate patient outcomes and to investigate the effects of spiritual care more fully.

Indexed as

end of lifehospicemeaningpalliative carereligionspiritual carespirituality

Identifiers

PMID30736416
PMCPMC6409788

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.