Spiritual Needs in Research and Practice The Spiritual Needs Questionnaire as a Global Resource for Health and Social Care

Based on information gathered from the internationally used Spiritual Needs Questionnaire, this book offers analyses of the spiritual and existential needs among different groups of people such as the chronically ill, elderly, adolescents, mothers of sick children, refugees, patients' relatives, and others. The theoretical background, specific empirical findings and the relevance of addressing spiritual needs is discussed by experts from different professions and cultural contexts. Supporting a person's spiritual needs remains an important task of future healthcare systems that wish to more comprehensively care for the healthcare needs of patients, and of religious communities to ensure that spiritual concerns of all persons, independent of their religious orientations, are met in and outside healthcare settings.  

1. Introduction

Part I Different Perspectives on Spiritual Needs

2. The Religious Under-Determination of Spiritual Needs from a Theological Perspective and Their Implications for Health and Social Care

3. Spiritual Care in Health Care: Guideline, Models, Spiritual Assessment and the Use of the ©FICA Spiritual History Tool

4. Using the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire: A Perspective from the Ethics of Care

Part II Assessment of Spiritual Needs

5. Assessing Patients' Spiritual Needs in Healthcare: An Overview of Questionnaires

6. Application and Implementation of the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire in Spiritual Care Processes

7. Structure of the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire in Patients with Chronic Diseases, Elderly and Healthy Persons and Their Association with Quality of Life Indicators

8. Adapted Spiritual Needs Questionnaire for Adolescents with Chronic Diseases

9. Structures of Spiritual Needs Questionnaire Versions in Countries with Different Cultural and Religious Background

Part III Findings in Different Populations: Persons with Chronic Diseases

10. Spiritual Needs of Patients with Chronic Pain Diseases

11. Spiritual Needs of Non-terminally Ill Cancer Patients from Lithuania

12. Spiritual Needs of Cancer Patients in Iran

13. Development of Spiritual Needs during Chemotherapy of Breast Cancer Patients

14. Psychosocial, Existential and Spiritual Needs of Persons with Cystic Fibrosis

15. Spiritual Needs of HIV-Infected Persons from Brazil

16. Spiritual Needs in People with Mild to Moderate Dementia

17. Spiritual Needs in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

18. Spiritual Needs of Tumor Patients During Their Stay at a Palliative Care Unit

Part IV Findings in Different Populations: Persons with Special Needs in Difficult Situations

19. Spiritual Needs of Patients in the Emergency Room

20. Spiritual Needs of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder

21. Spiritual Needs of Persons with Down Syndrome

22. Spiritual Needs of Adolescents with Chronic Diseases

23. Spiritual Needs in Postwar Population Posttrauma Patients in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

24. Spiritual Needs and Life Satisfaction of Refugees in Bavaria

Part V Findings in Different Populations: Healthy Populations

25. Spiritual Needs of Parents with Health-Affected Children

26. Spiritual Needs of Elderly

27. Spiritual Needs of Patients' Relatives

Part VI Relevance of Addressing Spiritual Needs for Clinical Support

28. Spiritual Needs, Hopes and Resources – A Chaplain’s Mantra

29. Relevance of Addressing Spiritual Needs for Clinical Support: Nursing Perspective

30. Addressing Spiritual Needs in Faith Community Nursing

31. Physician’s Perspectives on Addressing Patients' Spiritual Needs

32. Relevance of Addressing Spiritual Needs for Clinical Support in Palliative Medicine

33. Addressing Spiritual Needs and Spiritual Care from a Volunteers' Perspectives

34. Concluding Suggestions

Arndt Büssing is a medical doctor and professor for quality of life, spirituality, and coping at the Witten/Herdecke University, Germany.