How do migrant nursing home staff relate to religion in their work with patients who are approaching death?

Abstract

Abstract Aim: To investigate how migrant nursing home staff relate to religion in their care for patients who are approaching death. Method and theory: Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 migrant healthcare workers from five nursing homes in Norway. The overall analytic approach was hermeneutical. The parts and the whole were interpreted in light of each other to gain a “thick description” of the data material in order to show the ways in which experiential meaning-making draws on cultural webs of significance. Findings: Religion held various meanings for the migrant healthcare workers interviewed. Religious and cultural competence and knowledge of migrant nursing home staff was neither asked for by the management nor discussed in the staff group. The way our participants related to religion at work was therefore based on individual preferences and internalized practices. Conclusion and implication for practice: Organized reflection groups among staff are needed in order to integrate and develop religious literacy in the multicultural nursing home setting. Such reflection groups can help the individual staff member to perform holistic nursing, that is, to be attentive of the interconnectedness of biological, social, psychosocial, and spiritual aspects in a human being.