This month the #gyncsm community will be discussing Spirituality and Quality of Life. Joining us will be Meredith Gould, PhD (@MeredithGould), who co-founded and co-moderates the monthly #hlthsp (Health and Spirituality) chat. Meredith is a writer, sociologist and digital strategist with decades of communications experience in healthcare and faith-based organizations. Her most recent book is titled "Desperately Seeking Spirituality".
The topic questions we'll cover are:
T1: To frame our discussion: What does spirituality mean to you? How might it differ from religion?
T2: How do you personally define "quality of life"? What role does spiritual life or practices play for you?
T3: What connections have you experienced btwn spirituality and your overall quality of life? Your mental health? Physical health?
T4a: What impact has receiving/living with a critical diagnosis had on your spirituality? How about your spiritual practices?
T4b: What impact has your spirituality and spiritual practices had on your experience with a critical diagnosis and treatment?
T5: How/who/what supports your spiritual awareness? What are some helpful digital/social media resources for spiritual support?
In a recent ASCO (Amercian Society of Clinical Oncology) Post article entitled "Integrating Spirituality Into Palliative Care Services: A conversation with Dr Christina Pulchalski MD", Dr Puchalski speaks of a 2009 paper produced after a Consensus Conference which identified points of agreement about spirituality as it applies to health care and made recommendations to advance the delivery of quality spiritual care. That paper makes for an interesting "deep dive" read into this topic.
There was also an abstract on this topic released in conjunction with the 2016 ASCO Meeting: Survey of spiritual quality of life among survivorship and distress guidelines. Its conclusion, "Spiritual quality of life is addressed by current practice guidelines of psychosocial distress, but survivorship guidelines provide little direction for screening or management." Fascinating that spirituality only enters the discussion here in terms of "distress".
We hope you will join us Wednesday, July 13 at 9pmET as we discuss this important aspect of support and care of cancer patients and anyone who has faced a critical diagnosis.
If you'd like to check out #hlthsp, you can follow @hlthsp on Twitter and their chats are held on 3rd Wednesdays at 9pmET. The next #hlthsp chat is 7/20 and the topic will be a continuation of the Spirituality and Quality of Life discussion started this month on #gyncsm.
Dee & Christina
Co-founders #gyncsm Chat
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