Spirituality is about people’s attempts to find meaning or purpose in life. Many health and nursing organisations stress the importance of spirituality in nurse education, and recommend incorporating spirituality assessment and management into patient care. However, although the importance of spirituality care is recognised there are barriers to its implementation, including practitioners’ lack of training, experience or time, or a lack of private spaces where patients can practise spiritual rituals.

This article discusses the importance of spiritual care, and explains how nurses can assess and support the spiritual needs of people with cancer.