Speaking of what matters most:the spirituality and the spiritual needs of Dutch children with a chronic condition

There is growing evidence that integrated spiritual care for nursing professionals is important for patients in order to cope with illness and handicaps. Spirituality works preventive, promotes health and stimulates quality of life. This research aims to explore and describe the spiritual experiences, language and needs of Dutch children with a chronic condition, which is yet unexplored. Especially children between the age of eight and ten are at the centre of this study, as they are able to reflect, but are yet uninfluenced by puberty with its own complexity. Internationally this has only been done on a small scale, and for the specific context of the Netherlands essential knowledge to identify and address this spirituality is still missing. This research thus provides simultaneously the necessary knowledge to improve theoretical foundations of spirituality of children and the more practical and ethical implications of how to speak to children about spirituality and how to do research with them on this topic

Ethical considerations regarding the inclusion of children in nursing research

Evidence-based nursing practice is based on three pillars: the available research, known preferences of the patient or patient group and the professional experience of the nurse. For all pillars, research is the tool to expand the evidence we have, but when implementing evidence-based practice in paediatric nursing two of the pillars demand that children are included as respondents: practice research on the nursing interventions in paediatrics and the preferences of patients, something recognized by scholars and practitioners. But including a vulnerable group as children in nursing research raises specific ethical issues that need to be considered by researchers. What are ethical considerations that are currently raised about doing research with children and what do we learn by synthesizing the narrative of these studies of why the issues are raised and which solutions can be offered for these issues? In this article, considerations on three ethical principles according to the Belmont report are described by examining recent research. Twenty-one studies were found addressing relevant ethical aspects including vulnerability, gaining consent, designing quantitative or qualitative research methods and considerations regarding the execution of the study. Ethical considerations should be much more a case of continuous awareness and attitude, then box-ticking exercise, although there are sufficient international guidelines available specifically for research that includes children to aid researchers

The Qualitative Assessment of Two Translated Dutch Spirituality Scales for Children

Purpose: This article describes the translation and qualitative assessment and small scale validation of two spir-ituality scales designed for children from English to Dutch and includes the translation and validation process and the results of the two most commonly used and best validated measurement instruments for spirituality in chil-dren: the Feeling Good, Living Life scale (FGLL) by Fisher (2004, 2009) and the Spirituality Sensitivity Scale for Children by Stoyles et al. (2012). Design and methods: The translation process was designed according to Beaton et al. (2000) and both the trans-lation and the validation process followed the instructions of the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN, 2018). The qualitative validation was done by a three-step test-interview eliciting the face validity of both questionnaires. Results and conclusions: The results show that both instruments were reliably translated, are face valid with some minor alterations and structurally validated overall in the small-scale pilot. Practice implications: More attention from healthcare professionals and educators should be directed at using spiritual measuring instrument to develop the spiritual vocabulary of children. A larger study is needed to also confirm the cultural validity of the translated scales. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Defining the mission - from policy statement to learning outcomes. A triple case study of faith-based nursing education Institutions in Northern Europe

This article focuses on faith-based nursing education in a pluralistic society. It discusses how faith-based colleges describe their mission and purpose in their policy documents, and how these statements are interpreted in the learning outcomes of nursing education. Three institutions of higher education participated in the study: Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (Diak) (Finland), Diakonhjemmet University College (DUC) (Norway) and Viaa Christian University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands). Two of the colleges, Diak and DUC, belong to the so-called diaconalmovement within the Lutheran churches in Northern Europe. Viaa was founded within the Reformed church tradition as an alternative to secular professional education. This study explores how the three different colleges present themselves and describe themselves as faith-based educational institutions with a Christian affiliation and their particular purpose within the general landscape of higher education. The study shows how the institutions presents faith in their institutional self-presentation and the integration of faith base in learning outcomes of nursing program. This study took place as a case study.As study material we used the strategic documents provided by each college. The study reported in this article is part of a broader investigation of the three institutions, including various qualitative methods such as individual interviews and focus-group interviews. Translating mission goals and values to the curriculum is most visible in the description of learning outcomes, because those are the more practical and concrete goals of vocational education. Upon analysing the learning outcomes of nursing education within the three universities, it became obvious that the most explicit voice is given to its purpose, which in all three cases focuses on ethics. The study led to the question how best to discuss values and beliefs in institutes of higher education, and who would facilitate, maintain and participate in those discussions.publishedVersio

Projectverslag Jaar van de zingeving: Ziekenhuis Van Weel-Bethesda, Hogeschool Viaa

In samenwerking met het lectoraat Zorg en Zingeving van Hogeschool Viaa te Zwolle heeft een stuurgroep activiteiten voorbereid om met het verpleegkundig personeel aandacht te geven aan zingeving. Gedurende het jaar 2018 bevorderen zij via bijeenkomsten en een e-learningmodule bewustwording en deskundigheid. Bovendien zal een aantal verpleegkundigen fungeren als Aandachtsvelder Zingeving, zodat ook de borging in teamfunctioneren, methodisch handelen en multidisciplinaire samenwerking vorm krijgt. Tot slot zal met behulp van onderzoek en kennisdeling aandacht voor zingeving versterkt worden

The Spirituality of Children with Chronic Conditions:A Qualitative Meta-synthesis

Problem: For an increasing group of children with chronic conditions worldwide, there is growing evidence that spiritual care fromhealthcare professionals is important to help themcope with illness and disability. As there is yet little known of which needs should be addressed with this pediatric spiritual care, this synthesis of the literature aims to clarify these needs. Eligibility criteria: all nursing, education and psychology peer-reviewed research studies, published in English between 2000 and 2017, focussing on spirituality or spiritual needs of children between 0 and 18 years old with a physical chronic condition, from their own perspectivewere eligible. Sample: Twenty articles of whichwere two reviews and eighteen single studies were included reporting on children between 0 and 21 years. Included chronic conditionswere type 1 diabetes mellitus, Duchene muscular dystrophy, HIV/aids, asthma, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis and cancer. Results: Children's spirituality seemed to be shaped by a search for identity focusing on normalcy and expressed their beliefs mainly in their relationship with a supportive God, using mostly religious language. Relational aspects, contextual aspects and spiritual/religious coping can generate spiritual issues or needs which influence health and adjustment to livingwith chronic conditions. Conclusions: Spirituality is an integral aspect of life and child development, requiring spiritual care from healthcare professionals when children face a physical chronic condition. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved