Spirituality 1

Assessing Spirituality
and Religious Practices

Girlie “J” Gepte – Hermoso, RN. MAN
Learning Objectives
• Within 1.5 hours, the students will be able to:
✓ differentiate religion and spirituality;
✓ collect subjective data and objective data related to the spirituality and religious
practices of the client;
✓ identify normal and abnormal findings related to spirituality of the client;
✓ analyze subjective and objective data from assessment of the spirituality and religious
practices; and
✓ document and communicate data from the assessment spirituality and religious
practices
What Is
Spirituality?
• Spirituality and religion are

important factors in health
and can influence health
decisions and outcomes.
• Many believe in God or a

universal
spirit or power, more than
50% of them pray on a daily
basis, and an estimated one-
third of them use
complementary and
alternative medical practices
that include religious and/or
spiritual practices
What is religion?
• defined as the
rituals,
practices, and
experiences
shared within a
group that
involve a search
for the sacred
(i.e., God, Allah,
etc.)
• For some faiths, this
idea of religion
encompasses the
concept of
spirituality and is a
natural outflow of
that idea.
• Others may
view SPIRITUALITY as
a separate concept,
possibly disconnected
from any religious
institution.
Spirituality
defined as a search for

meaning and purpose in life;
it seeks to understand life’s
ultimate questions in
relation to the sacred.
spiritual
assessment
• During a spiritual
assessment, the
healthcare
professional should
keep an objective
perspective with
the goal of
meeting
the client where
she or he is.
Public opinion and health care research give credence to
the importance of the relationship of religion,
spirituality, and health.
Why Assess
Spirituality? A large number of patients use spiritual resources
during times of high stress (i.e., hospitalizations).
Religion and spirituality have been related to a person’s

greater well-being in the face of
chronic disease management and assistance adhering to
medical
regimens
Religion and spirituality can be
powerful coping mechanisms
when a person faces end-of-life
issues.
• Clients have also called for medical providers to

address spiritual issues during client provider
interactions.
• Nurses generally have more opportunities

to address spiritual concerns with clients because
nurses are the
primary points of contact for most clients
• Some religions
encourage positive
health behaviors,
greater mental
health, and provide
a strong social
support network.
• Spirituality can be
practiced through a
wide variety of
avenues.
• A working knowledge of the
majority faiths’ ideals, beliefs, and
practices in the nurse’s community
would provide a useful foundation
for spiritual care.
• When conducting any type of review

of the denominations or faiths in a
particular community, be aware
that a client’s spiritual dimension is
subjective and may vary greatly
between persons, even persons of
the same denomination or
faith.
• A discussion with a hospital
chaplain or clergy regarding
the views of religious faiths in
the nurse’s community would
also provide a greater
understanding about the
particular faith’s
views of health and give the
nurse a resource for future
referral or collaboration.
• Collaboration and referral with

pastoral chaplains or clergy
are extremely important when
dealing with religious issues in
a health care setting.
The Role of Religion
and Spirituality
in Health and Health
Care Choices
• Providing a
time of silence
for the client
may encourage
spiritual
practices such
as meditation,
or the nurse
may gather
family member
or clergy to
participate in
a prayer ritual.
Particular religious views may negatively
impact health.
Failure to seek timely medical care and Christian Scientists frequently rely on
withholding “proper” prayer alone to heal illnesses, rarely seek
medical care based on religious dogma are mainstream medical care, and have higher
usually the most rates of mortality than the general
prominent ethical dilemmas faced by population.
healthcare providers.
Jehovah’s
Witnesses refuse blood transfusions due to
their belief that the
body cannot be sustained by another’s
blood and accepting a
transfusion will bar the recipient from
eternal salvation
• If a nurse is presented with a situation where
religious or spiritual views have the potential
to compromise adequate
nursing care, the situation should be presented
to a supervising
staff member immediately.
• For complex cases, the situation may

also be presented to the ethics committee of
the institution or
organization to assure appropriate measures
are followed.
• Consistently nurses who are more aware of their spirituality are
more comfortable discussing the potential spiritual needs of the
client.
• Introspective reflection on one’s own beliefs and biases about the
relationship between spirituality and health can be
undertaken through journaling, meditation, or discussions with
interested persons.
• The nurse needs to ask
1. What are my/your views on the

interaction between spirituality
and health?
2. How would I/you respond to
someone in spiritual distress or
to someone requesting an
intervention relating to
spirituality?
3. How can I/you provide spiritual
care?
These reflections help to provide a deeper understanding of the nurses’ spiritual dimension and build confidence
for future discussions on spirituality. While many nurses view spiritual assessment and care as an important part of
nursing practice, training levels vary from institution to institution.
However, nurses can train themselves to meet this vital need of the client.
The nurse who understands the content of a spiritual assessment can use this knowledge also to increase self-
understanding.
A spiritual assessment is similar to the many other
assessments nurses perform on a daily basis.
Gaining relevant information about the client’s spirituality

helps to identify related nursing diagnoses and needed
interventions and can improve client care.
There is no absolute in the timing of a spiritual assessment.
Some professionals recommend inclusion with the initial

assessment, while others argue for a delayed assessment
after the nurse-client relationship has been established.
Clinical Tip • Briefly addressing a
client’s spirituality will establish an
open dialogue, and provide a
foundation for any intervention or
care that may be needed in
the future
• The client is focus of the spiritual assessment.
• Therefore, the nurse does not have to be spiritual to take a
spiritual assessment.
• Objectivity is a key component in a high quality spiritual
assessment.
• The questions in a spiritual assessment probe for beliefs that
could affect client care.
• Divulged information is then utilized to support, encourage, or
lead clients in harmonizing their personal relationships to
spirituality and health.
• Some clients may not be connected to any religious group or
have any interest in spirituality.
• These clients should be encouraged in whatever provides them strength in dealing with
health care issues (i.e., family, friends, nature, etc.)
• If a client responds negatively to any aspect of the discussion of religion or spirituality,
the nurse may collaborate with the hospital clergy or pastoral care department to further
assess the situation and patient responses.
Spirituality is multidimensional. It is also
unique to each individual. These
characteristics of spirituality can present
difficulties in proper assessment.
The most useful spiritual assessment
techniques should have general introductory
questions and not be specific to any religious
SPIRITUAL denomination that would guide
precise questions related to the client’s
ASSESSMENT specific spiritual needs
TECHNIQUES Nonformal
There are numerous ways to perform a
spiritual assessment.
Many times it is helpful to have a quick
reference to guide assessment.
FICA Spiritual Assessment Tool
Formal
• The client’s spirituality and religiosity can also be assessed with formal
instruments
Spiritual
Assessment
VALIDATING AND •
A client’s spirituality often affects her health. There are numerous
capacities in which this occurs and frequently will go unnoticed
DOCUMENTING without assessment. Subjective and objective data will be

collected during assessment. Noticeably the subjective data will
be the primary source of information during a spiritual assessment,
FINDINGS but the objective data can validate or call into question information
presented to the nurse.

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Assessing Spirituality

and Religious Practices

• Spirituality and religion are

• Many believe in God or a

defined as a search for

Religion and spirituality have been related to a person’s

• Clients have also called for medical providers to

• Nurses generally have more opportunities

• When conducting any type of review

• Collaboration and referral with

• For complex cases, the situation may

1. What are my/your views on the

Gaining relevant information about the client’s spirituality

There is no absolute in the timing of a spiritual assessment.

Some professionals recommend inclusion with the initial

DOCUMENTING without assessment. Subjective and objective data will be

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