Assignment Prompt
What spiritual considerations surrounding a disaster can arise for individuals, communities, and health care providers? Explain your answer in the context of a natural or human caused disaster. How can a community health nurse apply the Christian worldview to the care of the individual, community, self, and colleagues during disaster management?
What spiritual considerations surrounding a disaster can arise for individuals, communities, and health care providers? Explain your answer in the context of a natural or human caused disaster.
On occurring, disaster results negatively affect the victims' psychological, spiritual, economic, and physical well-being. Vulnerable populations such as refugees, immigrants, children, the elderly, and the poor are more affected by disasters. In addition to the trauma associated with the disaster, the victims of the disaster experience loss of community infrastructure and homes and this makes it hard for them to engage in everyday tasks (Lalani et al., 2021). The victims of the disaster are likely to experience a loss of purpose, meaning, and identity and this has an effect on their health and wellbeing. A struggle to find meaning in their trauma and losses leads to the spiritual, psychological, and mental issues that delay their recovery. Trauma due to a disaster makes individuals rethink their spiritual well-being while at the same time evaluating their source of strength and prompting the spiritual understanding for them to cope with their hardship, loss, and trauma (Lalani et al., 2021). In the occurrence of a disaster, communities and individuals redirect their attention to the spiritual strength and faith-based organization that provides them with the resources that are necessary to meet their physical, spiritual, and emotional needs.
How can a community health nurse apply the Christian worldview to the care of the individual, community, self, and colleagues during disaster management?
Community health nurses should apply the Christian worldview in providing care during disaster management. On a disaster occurs, nurses should provide compassionate and spiritual support to the victims of the disaster. When the spiritual needs of the victims of the disaster are met, the process of recovery is fastened (Vincensi, 2019). Community health nurses and their colleagues are more likely to be overburdened with the duty of care in providing healthcare services to patients. Thus, they should exercise compassion while working with each other and this can be through appealing to the spiritual needs through praying together. Additionally, community health nurses should collaborate in providing healthcare services and this is essential in sharing ideas on care provision among the healthcare professionals.
References
- Lalani, N., Drolet, J. L., McDonald-Harker, C., Brown, M. R., Brett-MacLean, P., Agyapong, V. I., ... & Silverstone, P. H. (2021). Nurturing spiritual resilience to promote post-disaster community recovery: The 2016 Alberta Wildfire in Canada. Frontiers in public health, 9, 682558. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8342851/
- Vincensi, B. B. (2019). Interconnections: spirituality, spiritual care, and patient-centered care. Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing, 6(2), 104-110. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2347562521002705