Conclusion
This research supports the emerging literature that patients with cancer have spiritual needs. It provides new evidence that neuro-oncology patients in the UK specifically have spiritual needs during their stay in the acute neurosurgical environment. These spiritual needs are: family support, emotional support, need for connection, loneliness/state of
despair, religious needs, reassurance, meaning and purpose, plans for future/re-establishing a sense of normality and solitude. Of significance is that neuro-cancer patients’ experience oscillated between loneliness and wanting solitude. The evidence also suggests that some patients would like support from nurses in the neurosurgical setting with these spiritual needs but that this is not the case for all patients. Further research is required to explore how nurses can support neuro-oncology patients with their spiritual needs and whether this should in fact be a nursing role. The data collection was not exhaustive in this study and further in depth research of the spiritual needs of neuro-oncology patients would add to the literature. This research does however serve its purpose in providing some evidence that spiritual care of neuro-oncology patients appears to be important in the neurosurgical setting.