Background: Spiritual needs of cancer patients should be assessed and discussed by healthcare professionals.\r\nNeurosurgical nurses need to be able to assess and support neuro-oncology patients with their spiritual needs from\r\ndiagnosis and throughout their hospital stay.\r\nMethods: Data were collected through questionnaires using a Critical Incident Technique (CIT) from neurosurgical\r\nnurses, findings were analysed using thematic analysis.\r\nResults: Nurses reported some awareness of their patients� spiritual needs during their stay on neurosurgical units\r\nalthough some used expressions approximating what could be described as spiritual needs. Patients� spiritual needs\r\nwere identified as: need to talk about spiritual concerns, showing sensitivity to patients� emotions, responding to\r\nreligious needs; and relatives� spiritual needs included: supporting them with end of life decisions, supporting them\r\nwhen feeling being lost and unbalanced, encouraging exploration of meaning of life, and providing space, time\r\nand privacy to talk. Participants appeared largely to be in tune with their patients� spiritual needs and reported that\r\nthey recognised effective strategies to meet their patients� and relatives� spiritual needs. However, the findings also\r\nsuggest that they don�t always feel prepared to offer spiritual support for neuro-oncology patients.\r\nConclusions: There is a need for healthcare professionals to provide spiritual care for neuro-oncology patients and\r\ntheir relatives. Although strategies were identified that nurses can use to support patients with spiritual needs\r\nfurther research is required to explore how effective nurses are at delivering spiritual care and if nurses are the most\r\nappropriate professionals to support neuro-oncology patients with spiritual care.
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