Faith Community Nursing as Holistic Care in the Community:
Possibilities for Practice in Japan From U.S. Literature Review
2023 Volume 15 Issue 1 Pages 1_11-1_21
Details
2023 Volume 15 Issue 1 Pages 1_11-1_21
Japan has become a super-aging society, many people are suffering from aging, high mortality, cancer, etc. The need for spiritual care, as well as physical care, is increasing among people living in the community. In the United States, churches in communities provide care services through their nurses. This is called Faith Community Nursing (FCN) which focuses on spiritual care activities. This paper aims to explore the characteristics and the possibility of FCN in Japan, by focusing on the following points as study objectives:
1) What kind of care is provided by Faith Community Nurses (FCNs)?
2) What kind of care is provided by the faith community in FCN?
Methods
A literature study was conducted:
Faith Community Nurse(ing) and Parish Nurse(ing) were searched from CINAHL using the keywords “Faith Community Nurse(ing)” and “Parish Nurse(ing)”.
Results
A total of 16 and 15 articles were found for “Faith Community Nurse(ing)” and “Parish Nurse(ing),” respectively. Duplicate articles were eliminated and 16 articles that were appropriate for the study purpose were analyzed. The following categories were extracted:
Objective 1) [observation] and [provision of health education], [emotional support/spiritual care], [long-term care], [listening/care of presence], [congregational worship support], [prayer], and [scriptural and ministerial care].
Objective 2) [fellowship with human resources], [ Care in collaboration with volunteers], and [reciprocal and mutually beneficial care with the community].
Discussion
The characteristics of care for FCNs were “care that goes beyond physical care and is more conscious of emotions and spirituality,” and “cuddly spiritual care using religious resources”. The characteristics of care for the community were titled “connecting people and social resources” and “complementing the institutional framework. As for the possibilities in Japan, it was suggested that this could complete holistic care, although it is necessary to be careful about the outpouring of religious care.
