Dignity therapy as a nursing intervention to address spiritual needs in palliative care: a narrative review.

Abstract

Background: Palliative care focuses not only on physical symptoms, but also addresses the psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of the individual. Spiritual care-understood as the search for meaning, purpose, and peace-is often neglected in clinical practice. Dignity therapy is a brief, individualised psychotherapeutic intervention designed to preserve dignity and respond to existential and spiritual needs at the end of life.

Aim: To narratively examine the reported outcomes and feasibility of dignity therapy as a nursing intervention to address spiritual needs in patients receiving palliative care.

Methods: A narrative literature review was conducted by searching PubMed, CINAHL, Embase and Scopus databases. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, and eight relevant studies were selected. The clinical question was developed using the Population- Situation methodology.

Results: The included studies suggest that dignity therapy significantly contributes to maintaining patients' dignity, enhancing spiritual wellbeing, and promoting meaning and purpose. Positive effects were also reported in relation to quality of life, anxiety and depression, usefulness of the intervention, social and family support, fear and sense of pride. However, some findings were inconclusive, and several authors highlight the need for specific training to deliver DT effectively in nursing practice.

Conclusion: Dignity therapy represents a promising intervention in palliative nursing care to support the spiritual dimension of patients at the end of life. Further research is needed to validate its outcomes, particularly when delivered by nurses, and to establish conditions that enable its integration into routine care.