Spiritual Growth and Care in the Fourth Age of Life

Elizabeth MacKinlay, an Anglican priest, is Director of the Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Studies in Canberra, Australia, and Chair of the Australian Capital Territory Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing. She is Professor at the Charles Sturt University School of Theology. She has previously authored The Spiritual Dimension of Ageing, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

• Preface. 1. The spiritual dimension of ageing and people in need of care. 2. The studies of frail older people and staff in aged care. 3. Assessment of spirituality and spiritual needs: A developmental approach. 4. Meaning of Life and frailty in the later years. 5. Wisdom, final meaning, the spiritual journey and frail older people. 6. Spiritual reminiscence: provisional and final meanings in frail older people. 7. The spiritual journey and mental health amongst older adults in need of care. 8. Meeting the challenge: older people with memory loss and dementia. 9. Worship and use of ritual among older people: different cultures, different religions; working in multi-faith and multicultural societies. 10. Vulnerability and transcendence, living in a disintegrating body and failure to thrive. 11. Vulnerability, transcendence and living with physical health problems. 12. Relationship and intimacy needs among nursing home residents. 13. Grief, death, dying and spirituality in an aged care facility. 14. Ethical issues in the fourth age of life. 15. The model of spiritual growth and care in the fourth age of life. 16. References. Appendix 1: Assessment of the Spiritual Needs of Older Adults - 1st Level. Appendix 2: Assessment of the Spiritual Needs of Older Adults - 2nd Level. Appendix 3: Group topics for spiritual reminiscence. References. Index.

A valuable resource especially for nurses and other staff who support older people with disabilities experiencing not just physical pain but emotional, existential and spiritual pain, and who must face death not in their own homes surrounded by families and friends, but in nursing care.