Spiritual Assessment

In my research of spiritual assessment tools, I came across what appears to be a common one, known as FICA. FICA stands for "Faith and Belief, Importance, Community, and Address in Care." I don't really feel the need to create a new spiritual assessment tool, because FICA hits all the points directly, and accurately. When assessing a patient, the questions that should be asked are whether or not the person considers themselves to be spiritual or religious. Sometimes patients do not believe that they are spiritual, but are able to answer questions about what gives their life purpose, or other philosophical questions. It's important to find a way ask these questions so that the patients can have the chance to give a heartfelt response and let you in to their thought process, if they so desire. Another question to ask is what importance their faith has in their life. This is a good way to find out if their spirituality has influenced the way they currently run their lives and how they handle stress.
Learning about what kind of church they are involved in can also gain insight on the patient, and what kind of support group they may have, or what kinds of things you as the provider can do to make their care more comfortable and relevant to their lifestyle.
And last but not least probably the most important question of all is asking about how you as the provider can use their spiritual beliefs to their benefit in regards to their health care. Find out what the patient requires of you to fulfill their spiritual needs while they are being cared for.
An example of my conversation with a patient would go something like this:
"Hello Mrs. Smith, so nice to have you here today. Before we begin our therapy sessions, I would like to ask you a few questions in regards to your spirituality, if that's ok with you." (if she is comfortable with this and allows me to continue, I will begin the spiritual assessment. If not, I won't pry any further in to this