ABSTRACT

The research is performed in order to determine the spiritual care requirements of the mothers of the hospitalized children in intensive care units.

In the scope of the study, the “Depth interview” method which is one of the quantitative data collection methods was used. During the study, 20 mothers were interviewed whose children entered the intensive care unit of Ege University Medical Faculty Research and Practice Hospital, Department of Pediatrics. Following the interviews, the detailed documentation of the data is done by the researchers and these raw data were classified according to the subjects previously determined and verified at the end of the study. The study was approved by the ethics commite (20.04.2005/28). In addition, mothers “Informed Consent Form” were taken.

The mothers whose children are in intensive care units said that the spiritual care requirements were not exactly satisfied by their responsible nurses and doctors. Mothers expect interest, good care, understanding, information about the situation of the child, geniality from nurses in order good treatment, a correct diagnose, information about the situation of their children and understanding from doctors in order for their spiritual care requirements needs to be met. Mothers reported that spiritual support to their children in accordance with their religious beliefs in order to be resorting to practices (to pray, to have amulet written, to consult to a hodja, to recite Koran, to make drink teas of medicinal plants), want to be near their children, to touch, to talk, to kiss them, to satisfy their needs in the intensive care unit.

In accordance with the results obtained, it is recommended that spiritual requirements are accepted as patient needs, the spiritual needs of families are considered in the scope of the treatment and care applications performed by physicians and nurses and the necessary environmental conditions are previously prepared in order to spiritually support the children and their family.

Keywords: Spirituality, spiritual care, spiritual requirement