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Australian Health Review Australian Health Review Society
Journal of the Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Spirituality and discourse: A postmodern approach to hospice research

Pam McGrath

Australian Health Review 20(2) 116 - 128
Published: 1997

Abstract

In modern western society, because of the dominance of secular modernist ideas ofrationalism and positivistic science, notions of spirituality have been at bestmarginalised, at worst excluded from our discourse on health care. Research intospirituality has been limited by modernist epistemological assumptions concerning?objective? proof and measurement. This discussion seeks to help reverse such a directionby offering an example of research on an Australian hospice service (Karuna HospiceService) which is inclusive of the notion of spirituality. This research indicates thata spiritual discourse was not only important in the genesis of this organisation, butis also a significant factor in energising and guiding the ongoing democratic, holistic,compassionate praxis of this hospice service.

https://doi.org/10.1071/AH970116

© AHHA 1997

Committee on Publication Ethics

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