Svenska kyrkans funktion i den palliativa vården
- ett religionssociologiskt perspektiv
Existential needsPastoral carePalliativeEnd of lifeChurch of SwedenDifferentiationPrivatizationExistentiella behovSjälavårdExistentiellt stödPalliativ vårdLivets slutSvenska kyrkanDifferentieringPrivatisering
Through the lenses of religion?s role in society, the purpose of this thesis is to examine, the role of the Church of Sweden in providing support to people at the end of life. Questions asked are: "What types of spiritual support is offered by the Church of Sweden during terminal care provided in patients' homes and how is this support expressed in church orders, assembly instructions, plans of operations and congregation letters?" and " How can the work of the Church of Sweden be understood, based on theories of religion's role in society? The method used is a content analysis of the Church Order, assembly instructions, plans of operations and congregation letters in 17 different congregations within the diocese of Lund. I then engage in a discussion with theories on differentiation and the privatization of religion as a means to interpret my results. My conclusion is that the investigated parishes in the diocese of Lund do not have any specific goals or targets documented for spiritual support to people who are at life?s end cared in their homes. This can be understood based on theories of differentiation. The privatization of religion may explain the phenomenon that people's religious needs are not linked to the collective institutional religion of the Church of Sweden. This is despite of the fact that a large proportion of the Swedish population belongs to the Church of Sweden. The de-privatization of religion, at a societal level can explain the reason why these concerns are attracting an increased interest from the healthcare services as people's need of spiritual support are discussed. The question of who should meet the patients' needs for spiritual support is unclear.