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Sociological Analysis Advance Access published online on March 27, 2009
Sociological Analysis, doi:10.1093/socrel/srp012
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

The Context of Religious and Spiritual Care at the End of Life in Long-term Care Facilities*

V. Lee Hamilton

Hong Kong Baptist University

Timothy P. Daaleman

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Christianna S. Williams

ABT Associates, Durham, NC

Sheryl Zimmerman

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

E-mail: drvleeh{at}aol.com


  Abstract

Despite the increasing numbers of Americans who die in nursing homes (NHs) and residential care/assisted living (RC/AL) facilities, and the importance of religious and spiritual needs as one approaches death, little is known about how these needs are met for dying individuals in long-term care (LTC) institutional settings. This study compared receipt of religious and spiritual help in four types of LTC settings: NHs, smaller (<16 beds) RC/AL facilities, traditional RC/AL facilities, and new-model RC/AL facilities. Data were also available for religious affiliation of the facilities, size, and provision of religious and hospice services. Controlling for such factors, the importance of religion/spirituality to the decedent was the strongest predictor of the decedent's receipt of spiritual help. In addition, new-model RC/AL facilities were significantly more likely to provide help for religious and spiritual needs of decedent residents than other RC/AL types, but did not differ significantly from NHs.

* Direct correspondence to V. Lee Hamilton, Management Department, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. A version of this paper was presented at the Fourth Hong Kong Palliative Care Symposium, Hong Kong, July 7, 2007. The research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG18967, K02 AG00970, and K23 AG001033). The authors thank the staff, residents, and family members who participated in the Collaborative Studies of Long-term Care (CS-LTC) for their time and commitment to learning more about and improving the quality of life in assisted living/residential care communities and nursing homes.


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