Spiritual Needs Assessment
Spiritual Needs Assessment Nursing promotes a holistic view of care, one that incorporates the patient’s mind, body, and spirit. Many studies have found that patients consider physical and spiritual health equally important, and that patient outcomes are positively correlated with spirituality (Oakley, Katz, Sauer, Dent, & Millar, 2010). While the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JACHO) requires an initial spiritual screening for patients, it does not provide process specifics (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations [JACHO], 2005). This paper uses an assessment questionnaire to conduct a spiritual-needs assessment and provides summary analysis of the assessment’s strengths as well as addressing barriers or challenges to real-life application.
Spiritual Assessment Process
This author developed a questionnaire of six questions to be used as a spiritual assessment tool. A neighbor, B.G., a married fifty-year old women with two children in college consented to the assessment but preferred to be orally interviewed for the assessment. Below are the list the questions read to her and responses are represented in her own words.
Questionnaire/Interview
1. Do you consider yourself religious or spiritual? What things provide meaning for you?
Answer: Oh yes, I put God at the center of my life. I consider it my job to get up everyday and try to be a better person, doing whatever God calls me to do. I try to be kind and not have judgments.
2. Do you belong to a certain faith of denomination?
Answer: I am Catholic. I go to St. Mary Magdalene up on the hill every Sunday. Sometimes I go on Friday for Adoration and I go to my women’s bible study every Wednesday.
3. Would you like support from your church and/or the hospital chaplain if you were hospitalized?
Answer: Yes, I would hope for prayers and visits from my church family and would love to have a chaplain come to visit me.
4. How do you express your
Spiritual Assessment Process
This author developed a questionnaire of six questions to be used as a spiritual assessment tool. A neighbor, B.G., a married fifty-year old women with two children in college consented to the assessment but preferred to be orally interviewed for the assessment. Below are the list the questions read to her and responses are represented in her own words.
Questionnaire/Interview
1. Do you consider yourself religious or spiritual? What things provide meaning for you?
Answer: Oh yes, I put God at the center of my life. I consider it my job to get up everyday and try to be a better person, doing whatever God calls me to do. I try to be kind and not have judgments.
2. Do you belong to a certain faith of denomination?
Answer: I am Catholic. I go to St. Mary Magdalene up on the hill every Sunday. Sometimes I go on Friday for Adoration and I go to my women’s bible study every Wednesday.
3. Would you like support from your church and/or the hospital chaplain if you were hospitalized?
Answer: Yes, I would hope for prayers and visits from my church family and would love to have a chaplain come to visit me.
4. How do you express your