Clinical trial · Observational
Implementing Spiritual Care in Inpatient Palliative Care
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
The goal of this observational study is to is to ascertain the spiritual needs of palliative patients in a standardized manner using the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire and to promptly address those needs by (specialized) spiritual care. To determine whether the effort of implementing the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire on a sustainable basis on the one hand brings the expected benefit to the patients and on the other hand can be provided by the pastoral care personnel, at Muenster University Hospital (specialized) spiritual care interventions will be documented in detail and retrospectively and prospectively collected data will be compared.
Conditions
Conditions (4)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer | Malignant Neoplasm | ALIAS | 0.90 |
| Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Heart Failure | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Lateral Sclerosis | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual Needs Questionnaire | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- label
- Prospective patients
- description
- Patients who are on the palliative care ward or who are being treated by the palliative consultation service at the University Hospital Muenster.
- interventionNames
- Other: Spiritual Needs Questionnaire
- label
- Restrospective patients
- description
- Patients who were on the palliative care ward or were treated by the palliative consultation service at University Hospital Muenster during the same period in the previous year.
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Feasibility of standardized and evidence-based recordation and implementation of Spiritual Care in Palliative Care
- timeFrame
- 6 months
- description
- Feasibility of standardized and evidence-based recordation and implementation of Spiritual Care in Palliative Care based on the number of interventions provided by general and/or specialized Spiritual Care for patients with ascertained needs detected by the validated Spiritual Needs Questionnaire in German language.
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * All individual indication for general and specialised Palliative Care in clinical setting/routine (e.g.): * Progressive, malign tumours * Progressive, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease * Patients with progressive disease and limited life expectancy (\< ca. 12 months) * Patients attended by Palliative Caregivers in counselling services or on palliative ward * Life expectancy \> 2 weeks * Sufficient comprehension of German language and writing that allows an autonomous or supported completion of the questionnaire. * Existence of an independently signed written consent. Exclusion Criteria: * Severe cognitive impairment * capacity for consent lacking or impaired * impaired comprehension of German language and writing that would not allow an autonomous or supported completion of the questionnaire.
References
Publications (1)
- DERIVEDGrunthal W, Bernhardt F, Wittenbecher L, Bussing A, Lenz P. Impact of a Standardised Screening on the Assessment and Addressing of Spiritual Needs in Inpatient Palliative Care in Germany: A Mixed-Methods Study. J Relig Health. 2026 Aug 10. doi: 10.1007/s10943-026-02749-5. Online ahead of print. PMID 42573666