Spiritual care

African American caregivers for persons living with dementia frequently experience emotional strain, burden, social isolation, and depression. One source of support for them when in distress is their church community. However, many African American churches do not have programs to support families and congregants living with dementia. Dementia often restricts persons living with dementia and their caregivers from attending church.

Approximately 1,500 people a day die of cancer. Most are cared for by an informal caregiver. The purpose of this study was to identify the unmet spiritual needs of informal caregivers and explore the relationships between the patient's symptom distress, caregivers' unmet needs, and caregivers' depressive symptomatology at the time of admission to hospice. The sample consisted of 110 caregivers of hospice home care patients with cancer. The Spiritual Needs Inventory and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale were administered to caregivers of newly admitted patients.