This book provides a condensed but comprehensive up-to-date overview of spirituality and its application to health care. The need for healthcare workers to provide spiritual care or meet patients' spiritual needs is gaining increasing importance in nursing and midwifery policy at local, national and international level. Internationally, there is a growing belief in spirituality as a valid dimension of care.

The book highlights a range of examples and case studies facilitating the practical application of the recommendations discussed. In addition to presenting new psychological perspectives, various activities throughout will encourage readers to form their own opinion on the issues covered. The suggestions for further reading and useful websites will also help readers interested in exploring specific areas in more depth.

Combining contributions by authors from various disciplines, the book offers a valuable tool for qualified professional healthcare workers in practice, including nurses, social workers, doctors and chaplains. With its handy format, this practical pocket guide offers a faithful companion for practitioners.

Fiona Timmins is an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin. She has more than 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals and she has published 10 nursing/healthcare textbooks. She has presented widely internationally including many Key Note presentations and workshops. She is currently Editor in Chief of the Journal of Nursing Management, acts as a reviewer for several peer reviewed journals, sitting on the editorial board of three of these. Her research interests include professional nursing issues, nurse education, spirituality and reflection.

Sílvia Caldeira is an Invited Assistant Professor at the Institute of Health Sciences, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon. Her work focuses on spirituality in health, particularly in nursing care. She completed a master in Bioethics about the ethical imperative of the inclusion of spirituality in nursing care, and a PhD about the validation of nursing diagnosis spiritual distress from NANDA International, Inc. She has already published a book in Portuguese about spirituality in Nursing and several papers in peer reviewed international journals. She acts as reviewer for several peer reviewed journals and is member of many international groups an associations concerning spirituality in healthcare.