Author: D. Eargle, Ph.D., M.Ed. 2018
Spiritual
Rituals within the Long-Term Care Community
“wanting to finish my
living…”
Many Chaplains and
Spiritual Care Practitioners offer their belief that long-term care facilities
should be in the business of helping elder residents finish-their-living, while
also creating a strong community presence.
They go further in arguing that spiritual care must be an integral part
of the facility’s service programs, with spiritual assessment and care planning
being as essential as nutrition, physical therapy, and nursing care plans.
Familiar religious rituals
should be anticipated and regularly scheduled throughout the year. All residents, regardless of their health
status, should be encouraged to play meaningful roles in spiritual practice.
While it is beyond the scope of this blog, I wish to share
several methods effectively used by practitioners in their spiritual practice
with long-term care residents.
Forgiveness, Guided
Reminiscence, and Life Review
“seeking
forgiveness…”
An important question posed to Pastoral Counselors and
Spiritual Care Providers: “What is the biggest need motivating older adults to
seek spiritual guidance?” Resoundingly,
the answer went something like this… healing old wounds of troubled
relationships, resentments, anger, regrets, forgiving Self, forgiving Others.
(Ramsey, 2008).
On an interesting side note: as a scientific field of
research, forgiveness has had a brief history.
Since the 1980s, however, it has become a major topic in medicine, psychology,
and theology.
According to Ramsey, a family therapist, all forgiveness
work includes a life story. Moving forward in life is perhaps best
facilitated for struggling older adults when a spiritual guide helps the person
search for exceptions, imagine new and more hopeful endings, and begin to
assume more flexible, empowering roles rather than the passive suffering of
victimhood (Ramsey, 2008).
Reminiscence & Life Review:
Depending upon the individual, guided reminiscence may
take different forms and serve various adaptive functions, e.g., recalling the
“good old days,” reinforcing one’s positive self-image & abilities, and entertaining
others via story telling. Some
reminiscing, however, may serve the purpose of a life review, often in
preparation for death. Pressing topics
typically include resolving issues of the past, seeking forgiveness, leaving a
legacy, and completing one’s “unfinished business.”
Ramsey counsels Spiritual Care Providers to help elders use
this life review as an impetus to evaluate, make peace with, and give thanks
for what has been. She goes further in
encouraging elders to become spiritual mentors to young adults, a life stage
that is also often filled with struggles, conflicts, fears, and lack of meaning
(Ramsey, 2008).
Fr. Oberle, a Spiritual Care Director, offers a definition
of forgiveness that I find especially meaningful:
“Forgiveness is the giving up of
all hope of a better past” (Oberle, 2002, p. 7).
By acknowledging
that the past cannot be changed, forgiveness focuses on the future. This process can be particularly important
for elders nearing the end of life.
Spiritual Legacies,
Autobiographies, Ethical Wills,
Life Stories, Journals,
and Story Telling
As noted throughout the thanatology research, most older
adults have a willingness and a need to speak openly about death. In fact, elders express a greater openness to
such discussions than do younger generations.
Most practitioners are also in agreement that leaving a spiritual
legacy is vital for elders nearing the close of life. In addressing their own mortality, many
questions surface:
Will I be remembered? How Will I be remembered?
Did my life matter?
In what ways can I contribute to
something of lasting value?
Spiritual autobiographies and ethical wills are two
examples of avenues for contributing something of spiritual substance to
others. According to Richards, the
importance of life stories for all generations can be affirmed in the context
of the story of a Higher Power, religious beliefs, and personally important
values. Others find that keeping a written or taped journal, formally or
informally, plays a central role in their legacies and can also be experienced
as a stress management tool (Richards, 2008).
Reflection Question
Many view our Internet Age as providing additional ways
in which older adults can document and share their stories and legacies. Do you feel our advanced Computer
Technologies will impact the ways in which we provide spiritual care in the
future?
In
Closing…
The following quote has meaning for
me, so I want to share with you….
Aging
is a moral and spiritual frontier because its unknowns, blessings, terrors, and
mysteries cannot be successfully crossed without humility and self-knowledge;
without love and compassion; without acceptance of physical decline and
mortality; and a sense of the sacred (Cole & Winkler, 1994, p. 5)
Resources
Aging &
Spiritual Rituals
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Address, R. (2005).
Creating Sacred Scenarios:
Opportunities for New Rituals. In
Religion, Spirituality, and Aging.
Binghamton, NY: The Haworth
Press.
Black, K., & Elkins, H. (2005). Wising
Up: Ritual Resources for Women of Faith
in their Journey of Aging. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press.
Cavanaugh, J., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2014). Adult
development and aging (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.
Cole, T., & Winkler, M.
(1994). The Oxford book of aging: Reflections on the journey of life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Griffin, R.
(2005). Caregiving and our inner
elder: Insights from a spiritual master.
In H. R. Moody (ed.) Religion,
Spirituality, and Aging. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.
Hooyman, N., & Kiyak, H. (2018). Social
gerontology: A multidisciplinary perspective (10th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Moody, H. R. (2005). Knowledge, practice, and hope. In Religion,
spirituality, and aging. Binghamton,
NY: Haworth Press.
Moody, H.R. (2010). Aging: Concepts & Controversaries (6th
ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge
Press/Sage Publications.
Nelson-Becker, H., Nakashima, M., & Canda, E. (2012). Spiritual Assessment in Aging: A Framework
for Clinicians. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 48, 331-347.
Oberle, J. (Fall 2002). Forgiveness: A spiritual value that fosters
physical, psychological and spiritual health.
In Newsletter of the Forum on
Religion, Spirituality and Aging. 14(3), 7.
Ramsey, J. (Summer 2008). Forgiveness and healing in later life. Generations,
32(2), 51-54.
Richards, M. (Summer 2008). Spiritual Challenges and Hope in Sharing
Care. Generations. 32(2), 68-69.
Blog
Author:
Dr.
Donnelle Eargle
deargle@sjcme.edu
With a background in geriatric
rehabilitation psychology, Dr. Eargle teaches gerontology-related courses at
Saint Joseph’s College. Standish, Maine.
