Knowledge and Practice in Providing Spiritual Care to Patients at the End of Life of Monks in the Upper Southern Thailand

บทคัดย่อ

This research study was aimed to study a level of Monks’s knowledge and practice in providing spiritual care to patients at the end of life. The samples were 100 monks purposively selected from upper South of Thailand.  Two questionnaires were used to collect assess the monks’ general background and knowledge and practice in providing spiritual care to the patients.   The knowledge and practice questionnaire was content-validated by three experts and its Cronbach’s coefficient alpha 0.87.  Both descriptive statistics and content analysis were conducted.
The results revealed that more than a half of samples having the level of knowledge in providing spiritual care to patients at the end of life as a moderate (54 %), 38% as low, and 8% as a high level. Three methods used in their spiritual care included (1) Dharma teaching (2) mind training and (3) mental support. The monks had certain knowledge and good practice in providing spiritual care to the palliative care patients. As a result, they should be integrated into multidisciplinary care team in the palliative care.