Spiritual assessment is an important part of good spiritual care, helping insure that the care being provided is the care the patient needs. A spiritual assessment is required as part of an overall patient assessment by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. An ability to "formulate and utilize spiritual assessments” is also one of the Standards for Professional Chaplains. (A description of these Standards can be found at the Association of Professional Chaplains Web site; see Professional Resources, Reading Room. The Web site also contains resources about the JCAHO standards; in the Reading Room see Pastoral Care - Standards of Practice. The Web site is http://www.professionalchaplains.org.)
The 7 x 7 Model for Spiritual Assessment
The 7 x 7 model for spiritual assessment has been an important model for spiritual assessment since its development in the mid-1980s. It was developed by a team of Rush chaplains and nursing faculty that included George Fitchett, Russ Burck , Carol J. Farran and Julia Emblen.
The 7 x 7 model is described in George Fitchett's book, Assessing Spiritual Needs , originally published by Augsburg Press (1993), and re-issued by Academic Renewal Press (2002). The book includes three case studies that illustrate the use of the model in spiritual care. It also describes and evaluates three other approaches to spiritual assessment.
An introduction to the 7 x 7 model for spiritual assessment, including a bibliography, may be downloaded here.
A bibliography about other models for spiritual assessment may be downloaded here.
A case study that illustrates the use of the 7 x 7 model in spiritual care may be downloaded here.
Workshops
Introductory workshops on spiritual assessment are offered at Rush and in other locations several times a year. For information about upcoming workshops contact Eleanor Welch, (312)942-5571, or Religion_Health@rush.edu .
Religious Struggle
We distinguish three levels of inquiry about a patient's or client's spiritual and religious needs and resources: spiritual screening, spiritual history taking, and spiritual assessment. Spiritual screening is designed to quickly identify patients who may be in the midst of religious struggle, for example feeling abandoned or punished by God. A more in-depth spiritual assessment should be conducted when screening identifies a patient who may be experiencing religious struggle. Research has begun to indicate that patients who are experiencing religious struggle have greater emotional distress, poorer quality of life, poorer recovery and greater risk for mortality. A bibliography of research about religious struggle, some conducted in our Department, can be downloaded here.