Supportive Therapies for Uterine Cancer Patients: Spiritual Support

Uterine Cancer Treatment: Spiritual Support

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), we understand that spirituality is an integral part of life. We greatly respect the integrative benefits that spiritual care and support can bring to uterine cancer treatment. We work to facilitate a welcoming and supportive environment where all patients are free to explore and practice their individual faiths and beliefs.

At CTCA, our goal is to motivate and inspire patients to utilize their faith for strength and support throughout their uterine cancer treatment, and beyond. We focus on how uterine cancer can affect all of you—physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Recent studies have suggested an interconnected nature between spirituality and healing. More so, spirituality has also been linked to decreased loneliness, anxiety and even physical discomfort in cancer patients.

Foundational aspects of spirituality include prayer, a sense of meaning in life, reading and contemplation, a sense of closeness to a higher being, interactions with others and other experiences that reflect spiritual interaction or awareness.

At our cancer hospitals, we seek to help uterine cancer patients leverage the valuable benefits that spiritual care can impart through a variety of programs and services. All of these are available to patients and their loved ones. They include:

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

Spiritual assessment

If requested, a member of our spiritual care staff can visit you within the first 48 hours of your admission for uterine cancer treatment. This visit helps us develop a meaningful relationship and rapport with you (and your family). It allows us to address all of your spiritual needs and issues from the get-go. Your spiritual assessment will be person-centered, respecting your religion, culture and age. Ongoing assessment of your needs is driven by your, and/or your family members’, willingness to talk throughout your uterine cancer treatment.

New patients who are attending CTCA facilities for the first time can also attend a voluntary group orientation session, which reviews the role of spiritual care we provide at CTCA and provides helpful handouts describing our different programs and services. As noted, based upon your unique preferences and needs, a spiritual support plan will be developed for you.

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, if any.
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.

Please note that because CTCA serves a significant population of nonlocal patients, the CTCA chaplain becomes the primary spiritual care provider during the inpatient treatment period. We understand that a relationship based on mutual trust, rapport and respect is crucial to the success of the treatment plan.

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