Spiritual Needs Assessment and Reflection (Interview and Analysis)
Of significance to this paper are two parts in which the discussion relates to the spiritual needs assessment and reflection. The first part of the discussion is an interview transcript focusing on evaluating the spiritual status of an individual. On the contrary, the second part will aim at analyzing the interview interaction with the client. With such information, a new understanding of the spiritual status of other people is inevitable.
Part 1: Spiritual Needs Assessment Interview
Sex: Female
Age: 40
Ethnicity: Asian
Religion: Catholic
- What is the role of faith in your life?
My faith is the guiding principle in all aspects of my life; whether, personal or professional.
- How important is practicing your religion as a coping mechanism?
The practice of religion by praying is my primary coping mechanism. It has given me direction all my life.
- How your religion influences your health treatments?
My faith affects my decisions regarding life and death; for example, my faith prevents me from using contraceptive methods, having an abortion or attempting euthanasia.
- Do you pray regularly? How much praying helps you in your everyday life?
I pray in the morning when I wake up and before I go to sleep. Praying gives me peace of mind and helps me cope with the stress and stressful situations in every day.
- Among the following characteristics: foundations of faith, power, well-being, or peace; which one had more importance when you decided to practice your religion? Explain
Foundations of faith: The Catholic faith is the only religion for me that is compatible with my beliefs; for example, the idea I have about what happened after death, the existence of a higher divine being, the ten commandments and so on and so forth. It has made May life more sense to me, made my life worth living and worth dying forth. It has given me a purpose in life and continues to do so which in turn has given me a direction in life and peace of mind.
Part II: Analysis
In essence, this section of the discussion aims at analyzing the interview experience. A reflection of this kind is worthwhile since it will enable one to have new insights for the development and utilization of spiritual assessment tool.
Looking back at the interview process, I am a strong believer that I was able to determine the client’s beliefs, spiritual foundation, and practices that she cherishes most in her life. Central to this assertion is the anchoring of the interview on Joint Commission on Accreditation’s standards of an effective spiritual assessment. The Joint Commission on Accreditation stipulates that a good spiritual assessment tool should seek to establish an individual’s faith background, spiritual coping mechanisms, denomination, religious practices and beliefs (Joint Commission, 2010). Concisely, all these irreducible minimums of good spiritual assessment are apparent in the interview and thus indicating the appropriateness of the interview exercise.
Worth highlighting from the interview process is the noted challenge that I must address in the future if I am to develop an effective spiritual assessment tool. In this case, the primary barrier relates to the difficulty in determining the client’s religious struggles. Establishing the spiritual struggles of a person is necessary since failure to do so is the cause of many mortality cases (Koenig, King, & Carson, 2012). As such, assessment of the spiritual struggles of an individual is vital for the overcoming of this problem. However, in consideration of the interaction with the client, this was not possible given that the utilized tool failed to address this issue making it a challenge.
Central to the avoidance of this problem in the future is the development of a more comprehensive interview tool that envisages various items seeking to address this issue (spiritual struggles). Strengthening this aspiration is the opinion of Koenig, King, and Carson, (2012) in which they assert that the nature of spiritual conflict requires early identification for the optimization of positive health outcomes. That said, in my future assessments, I will seek to determine three elements that will assist in the identification of the client’s struggles. The first item entails determining if the patient questions God’s love due to the suffering he/she is experiencing. Additionally, I will ask the client if the disease has resulted in thoughts of God forsaking him/her. Finally, seeking to establish the patient’s opinion of the point of origin of his/her current illness is another consideration that I will factor in my future assessment. Precisely, an affirmative response of any of these questions will indicate that the patient is facing an internal religious conflict.
Based on the interaction with the client, I am of the idea that the assessment tool will enable me in providing suitable individual-centered interventions in the future. That is for sure since the tool will assist in determining an individual’s spiritual inclinations and struggles, which are necessary for the shaping of a holistic patient-focused care plan (Monareng, 2012). For example, determination of a client having spiritual conflict will necessitate his/her referral to a spiritual leader who will assist him/her in coping. As such, through this tool institution of strategies geared to meeting the needs of the patient is possible.
Lastly, from the interaction, it is beyond doubt that the patient’s illness and stress magnified her spiritual concerns and needs. Such is the case given that, during the interview, the client requested me to join her in prayer because she believed that God’s intervention was fundamental for her recovery. In essence, such a desire is consistent with Strada, Homel, Tennstedt, Billings, and Portenoy, (2013) assertion that a disease heightens the spiritual conflict and needs that medical personnel must address if they are to achieve positive health outcomes. As such, the client’s request for praying with him justifies the assertion that illness and stress intensify spiritual concerns and needs of a person.
In closure, the interaction with the client was a good and beneficial experience. Such is the case given that it has affirmed the merits and value of a spiritual needs assessment. As such, going forward, I choose to rely on this best practice for the realization of patient-focused and holistic care.
References
Joint Commission. (2010). Advancing effective communication, cultural competence, and patient-and family-centered care: A roadmap for hospitals. Joint Commission.
Koenig, H., King, D., & Carson, V. B. (2012). Handbook of religion and health.Oup USA.
Monareng, L. V. (2012). Spiritual nursing care: A concept analysis. curationis, 35(1), 1-9.
Strada, E. A., Homel, P., Tennstedt, S., Billings, J. A., &Portenoy, R. K. (2013).Spiritual well-being in patients with advanced heart and lung disease. Palliative and Supportive Care, 11(03), 205-213.
