Testing Options

Prayer and other Religious Practices in the Health Care Setting

In a study conducted by the American Pain Society, personal prayer was the most commonly used non-drug method of controlling pain (Puchalski, 2001). Winslow and Winslow, 2001 explored the question of prayer and involvement of nurses in the clinical setting. They suggested five ethical guidelines:

1. In order to provide spiritually respectful care, nurses should seek a basic understanding of patients’ spiritual needs, resources, and preferences. 2. Respectful care requires that nurses follow the patient’s expressed wishes regarding prayer with the patient. 3. Nurses should not prescribe spiritual practices or urge patients to adopt religious beliefs nor should nurses pressure patients to relinquish their spiritual beliefs or practices. 4. Nurses who care for the spiritual needs of patients should seek to understand their own spirituality. 5. A nurse’s participation in prayer with patients should be consonant with the nurse’s integrity.

Reflection Questions

  • Do these guidelines for nurses resonate with you, personally?

  • Do these guidelines for nurses resonate with you, professionally?

  • How do these guidelines align with the NSGC Code of Ethics?

In many areas within our professional practice, counselors regularly deal with life and death situations. Yet, confining exploration of religion and spirituality to life and death situations may alienate a good number of clients. Decision making about genetic tests, management of genetic conditions, and even the resources you choose to help your clients cope are perceived with the client’s unique lens and his/her worldviews on the importance of religion/spirituality. In this case, Ori and Tal turn to prayer in the genetic counseling setting.

  • Is the concept of prayer in a genetic counseling setting a comfortable concept to you? Why or why not?

  • Does your genetics center or institution have any policies about patients/providers engagement in prayer? If you don’t know, how would you find out?

  • Does your genetics center or institution have any policies about wearing religious jewelry or displaying other identifiable symbols of religion on your body or in your office? If you don’t know, how would you find out?

  • At work, do you wear a cross, Star of David, or other jewelry or clothing denoting your religion or faith? If not, why not? If so, have clients ever commented about such emblems? What did they say? How did you feel?

  • How often do your clients wear a cross, Star of David, or other jewelry or clothing denoting their religion or faith? Have you ever referred to or commented about such emblems? If so, why? What did you say? How did you feel?

Consider your comfort level with respectfully acknowledging the importance of prayer to your clients. Are you comfortable offering these gestures of respect for clients’ need to pray?

  • Provide extra time.

  • Offer privacy.

  • Tolerate silence.

  • Listen.

  • Bow your head.

  • Close your eyes.

  • Hold the client’s hand.

  • Consult with and/or involve a member of the pastoral counseling team.

It is important to be completely truthful with yourself. Which approaches fall within your comfortable personal and professional boundaries? Does the client’s religion make a difference to your comfort level? Does your comfort level waiver based on clients’ expression of prayer in a religious denomination that you personally practice, one that is very familiar to you, or one that you have never heard of? Does the language in which the prayer is expressed make a difference? When would you refer the client to another genetic counselor?

 

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