Abstract
Recognized by the World Health Organization as essential for good practices in palliative treatments, “spiritual care” is a recent term in the context of Brazilian healthcare, and should be more well-defined. To fill this gap, this study presents an overview of the updating of spiritual care in Brazil, the United States and Europe, provides brief guidance on how to identify spiritual needs, and outlines four useful tools for this type of care. After the contextualization follows an interdisciplinary and introductory reflection based on bioethics and public theology, questioning whether this care would be a public health issue. The text concludes by presenting some recommendations that may support public policies aimed at implementing spiritual support in palliative care in Brazil.
Palliative care; Spirituality; Bioethics; Public health; Theology