Implementing Spiritual Care in Inpatient Palliative Care

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.

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Key information

Conditions

Cancer Cardiovascular Diseases Chronic Disease Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Disease Attributes Heart Diseases Heart Failure Lateral Sclerosis Lung Diseases Lung Diseases, Obstructive Motor Neuron Disease Neoplasms Nervous System Diseases Neurodegenerative Diseases Neuromuscular Diseases Pathologic Processes Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive Respiratory Tract Diseases

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

University Hospital Muenster

Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, 48149, Germany

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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.

Treatment and study plan

Spiritual Needs Questionnaire

Other

This questionnaire captures the spiritual needs of patients and is used in its short version (screener).This questionnaire is used as part of standard treatment for all palliative care inpatients.

Primary outcomes

Feasibility of standardized and evidence-based recordation and implementation of Spiritual Care in Palliative Care

Time frame: 6 months

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.

Secondary outcomes

Recordation of needs for general / specialized spiritual care in palliative care

Time frame: 6 months

Recordation of needs for general / specialized spiritual care in palliative care consultation service and palliative ward of a university tertiary care hospital.
Differences in use and outcomes comparing standardised and non-standardised evaluation of spiritual care needs (comparison with retrospective data).

Time frame: 6 months

s. title
Examination of further descriptive and analysing comparisons of retrospective data and intervention group.

Time frame: 6 months

s. title

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University Hospital Muenster

Other

Registry information

Acronym: SCPC

Important dates

Study start: 2023
Primary completion: 2024
Study completion: 2024
First posted: Jan 16, 2024
Registry last updated: Feb 12, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed