Arts-based spiritual care in healthcare: A participatory, scoping review

Despite the centrality of spirituality to healing for many, spiritual care is often sidelined in fast-paced, illnessfocused healthcare settings. Religious plurality further complicates spiritual care provision. New approaches are needed to renegotiate these tensions. A growing body of literature attests to the therapeutic benefits of arts-based spiritual care (ABSC) for diverse patients. Our review purpose was to summarize the literature on arts-based practices for spiritual care in healthcare and examine how and why the arts have been used for spiritual care. We conducted a participatory, scoping review and searched key databases and grey literature for relevant articles. After screening 4011 articles, we included 30 in our review. Narrative data were extracted and thematically analyzed. ABSC was predominantly used with patients who were in palliative care or had dementia or mental health challenges. Our analysis revealed healing dimensions of ABSC - the arts offered a poignant spiritual language and acted as a transformative presence in care encounters. The resulting benefits included transcendent encounters, internal work, and connections. ABSC was responsive to diversity but there were concerning incidents of exclusion and challenges in healthcare, and decolonizing but contested approaches. These findings can inform the continued implementation, development, and investigation of ABSC.