Developing religious and healthcare-sensitive palliative care guidelines for Muslim inpatients: A scoping review.

PURPOSE: This scoping review synthesised evidence on religious and healthcare considerations in delivering palliative care to Muslim inpatients in tertiary hospital settings. The aim was to inform the development of Islamic-sensitive palliative care guidelines tailored to Ghana and other Sub-Saharan African contexts.

METHODS

The review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and was reported in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR checklist. A comprehensive three-step search strategy was implemented across ProQuest, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted data. A framework synthesis was conducted using Saunders' Total Pain Model and the WHO Health System Responsiveness Framework.

RESULTS

Of 706 records screened, 45 studies were included. Findings revealed five key themes: (1) Religious coping practices such as prayer and Qur'an recitation served as essential strategies for spiritual and emotional relief; (2) Family governance shaped care decisions, often at the cost of patient autonomy; (3) Imams played pivotal roles in spiritual care and ethical mediation, though their involvement lacked institutional consistency; (4) System-level barriers including lack of Islamic-sensitive policies, and inadequate training compromised compassionate care; and (5) Sub-Saharan Africa was significantly underrepresented, limiting evidence transferability to African contexts.

CONCLUSIONS

Spiritual care is essential to holistic palliative care for Muslim patients. The development of Islam-sensitive palliative guidelines and the structured integration of imams into care teams is urgently needed. Greater investment in African-led research is critical.