Resumen:
The elderly population has increased throughout the world. Due to this the relations with regard to the health of the elderly person throughout the years has been a subject of scientific investigations, putting in evidence various situations such as: the quality of life of the elderly person, chronic illnesses, incurable illnesses, the death process among others. In the scientific literature some studies are also found which talk about religious practice and spirituality, which are perceived by many elderly as indispensable for confronting adversity. Faced with this, the goal of this research is to analyze the importance of dealing with spirituality in assisting with the nursing in caring for the health of the elderly person. Toward this end we proceeded to do a review of the literature, of articles published in the period of 2011 – 2015, through access to the electronic data bank of the Regional Portal of the BVS (Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde [Virtual Library in Health]), besides consulting books related to the theme. To be highlighted is that aging is directly related to the spirituality of the elderly person, including aspects of the person’s health and quality of life. In this sense, the nursing professional should develop a holistic look in order to work in a humanistic way and propitiate to the geriatric patient support in the spiritual field, spirituality being indispensable in the person’s work, as well as the valorization of the faith and belief of the client. The nursing professional needs to visualize assistance in a way to permeate bio-medic knowledge, visualizing the elderly person as a human being in his or her fullness, and not treat him or her as a number in a hospital bed or as a set of organs which function poorly. Finally, the nursing professional needs to perceive the spiritual needs of care giving in order to promote attention to health care in a holistic way. However, for this to occur it is necessary to provide learning scenarios so that the professionals are able to understand and practice the theme of spirituality and religiosity directed toward assistance in healthcare.
