Spirituality in Old Age: The Expanding Scope of Person-Centred Approach and Gerontological Social Work - A Scoping Review

Health is an inevitable factor in all aspects of aging. Likewise, the dimensions of spirituality also contribute as an unavoidable factor for healthy aging. In the current scenario, the life of older adults is accompanied by diseases, disabilities and associated comorbidities. Only a few among the population encompass positive aging by overcoming psychological, physical, social, and financial challenges associated with daily living. This study envisages the role of spirituality and spiritual practices among elderly through a scoping review to mark the degree, ambit, and quality of the literature. The study has followed the steps derived by “Arksey H and O’Malley L” considering the first step of Identifying the research question to Collating, Summarizing, and Reporting Results. Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Grey Literature were the electronic databases used. The findings of the study display that spiritual beliefs, and practices have a significant role in reducing mental and physical illness. This further explains the essentiality of spirituality in reducing the severity of the diseases, preventing the emergence of comorbidities, and reducing relapse rate. The study concludes that spiritual beliefs and practices among older adults contribute to a speedy recovery as well as render distress and disability easier to endure.