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Patients' 'spirituality' is widely considered to be a factor that nurses need to consider in their assessments. But Jeanette Power suggests ways in which assessments can be undertaken, and questions whether one assessment tool can prove adequate in measuring the significance of spirituality in the lives of individuals, all of whom may interpret its meaning differently?
Key words
* Older people
* Spirituality
* Assessment
These key words are based on the subject headings from the British Nursing Index. This article has been subject to double-blind review.
Literature on the subject of spiritual assessment tools is increasing, but no one tool has gained widespread acceptance. McSherry (2000) argues that for spirituality to be relevant to nursing and applied in clinical practice it must be defined in a way that makes it meaningful for nurses and patients. He emphasises that spirituality is not simply to do with theology and existential beliefs, but is also about the mundane and the ordinary: 'The way forward is to think of spirituality in terms of its relevance and importance to individuals in their everyday existence. All people, irrespective of creed, culture, race or religion, have a spirituality that is uniquely interpreted and determined by their everyday situation.'
The Portsmouth Hospitals Chaplaincy Team defines spirituality as incorporating the search for meaning and purpose in life, involving personal identity, thoughts, feelings and behaviour. It is about our relationship with who or what is important in our lives, as well as our relationship with our world, nature and ecology. It may include a relationship with an ultimate other, such as God. A simpler summary, adapted by Catterall et al (1998), is: 'The lived experience that gives meaning to life and death.'
Religion can be defined as the framework we use to express or channel our spiritual yearnings; the means by which we make sense of our spiritual longings, or the type of transport we choose for our spiritual journey. The two terms should never be interchangeable, otherwise we exclude many spiritual people who are not religious.
In order to devise an assessment tool relevant to patients we need to understand how spirituality fits into our national culture.
In the Western world spirituality has been related to Judeo-Christian beliefs. Post-modernism has given...