Spiritual Support for Pancreatic Cancer

Supportive Therapies for Pancreatic Cancer Patients: Spiritual Support

Spiritual care can be a vital part of pancreatic cancer treatment. Your care team at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) understands this, and works hard to provide a universal umbrella of spiritual support for patients, family members and staff.

We strive to create an environment where all patients—from any faith—can be strengthened, motivated and inspired to utilize their faith, in conjunction with treatment modalities, to combat cancer.

Spirituality is an integral part of life, and studies have suggested an interconnection between spirituality and healing. At CTCA, we focus on the whole-person impact of pancreatic cancer and how the cancer experience affects people—physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Foundational aspects of spirituality include prayer, reading and contemplation of spiritual writings, interactions with others, and other experiences that lead to a sense of meaning in life and a sense of closeness to a higher being. Recent research has shown a strong correlation between good spiritual health and good physical health. Additionally, spirituality has been related to low fear of death, low discomfort, decreased loneliness, and emotional adjustment among cancer patients.

By offering programs and services to both you and your family members, CTCA attempts to provide you with the opportunity to explore the spiritual component in dealing with pancreatic cancer. These programs include:

• Individual and group prayer
• New patient orientation
• Counseling by a faith representative of your choice
• Pastoral comfort and support
• Prayer chains facilitated by hospital staff
• Weekly interfaith worship and communion services
• Family consultations
• Patient growth and support groups that focus on healing, faith and life
• Assistance with the development of advanced directives and/or living wills
• Grief and bereavement counseling and referral
• Taped ministry
• Communication with your local pastor and church
• Telephone consultations with patients/family members

Spiritual assessment

At your request, a member of our hospital’s spiritual care staff will visit you within the first 48 hours of your initial admission to CTCA for treatment. The purpose of this visit is to begin to know you, and to develop a relationship and rapport with you (and your family, as appropriate). The relationship-and-rapport session addresses your spiritual needs and issues. All assessments will be person-centered, respecting your religion, culture and age. Your and/or your family member’s willingness to talk and share drives an ongoing assessment of your needs.

New pancreatic cancer patients (first time admissions) may attend a voluntary group orientation to review the role of spiritual care at CTCA. As noted, based on your choice and identified needs, a personalized plan will be developed as part of your total pancreatic cancer treatment plan.

Spiritual care at CTCA is divided into three main categories:

1. Contact: This consists of initial assessment, physician referral, nursing/other referral, sacramental service, pre-surgical counseling, post-surgical counseling, crisis intervention, family visits and consultation, group interaction and determining your religious preference.
2. Spiritual issues: This deals with a wide range of topics, including your body image, coping system, thought process, socialization, comfort level, ability to sleep, sense of well-being, support system, and spiritual patterns.
3. Spiritual care intervention: This encourages and values personal exploration of spiritual issues, symbolic language, socialization issues, suffering issues, healing issues, death/dying, grief/loss, God/church, guilt/forgiveness, life values, and prayer support.

CTCA serves a sizable population of patients who do not live where our hospitals are located. As a result, the CTCA chaplain becomes the primary spiritual care provider during the inpatient treatment period. A mutual relationship based on trust and rapport is crucial to the success of the comprehensive pancreatic cancer treatment plan.

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