The tool for spiritual needs assessment

FACT is the spiritual needs assessment tool that was utilized during the interview. Faith, Active (or Accessible or Applicable), Coping (or Comfort or Conflicts), and Treatment plan are acronyms for FACT. It is a helpful tool for use, particularly in such interviews, because it is extremely thorough, including several notions or ideas that are crucial to the research into the patient’s spiritual demands (Tarpley & Tarpley, 2017; The Joint Commission, 2014).

Interviewer: What is Faith and how do you regard your spiritual being? How does it add value

to your life?

Interviewee: Biblically speaking, faith refers to the elements hoped for and substantiation of

those that cannot be seen. My belief is solely dependent on nothing less than Jesus Christ, and that is why I am a Christian, follower of Christ not a mere spiritual mortal. Yes, I support the idea that believing and trusting in God adds value to my life and refreshes me a daily basis even in my present state.

Interviewer: Presently, are you Active in the church and any of its activities? What impact

did your current ailment have on your activeness in your church group? How Accessible are you for the group?

Interviewee: Yes, presently I happen to be an Active member of a prayer group in my local

church. In addition to that I belong to a prayer cell. The members of the group have always visited in the hospital

Interviewer: In which way were you able to Cope with your curative situation? How handy was

your belief in God especially throughout the illness?

Interviewee: It became one of the most difficult times in my life as my elderly father was

equally sick. It was a time I sought to know from God what kind of person I ought to be. My faith in God helped me through the situation and I can say God is good so far.

Interviewer: Based on your Christian background and teaching was the medications or

treatment in Conflict to your religious and spiritual beliefs?

Interviewee: For my case no, my understanding is that over ninety-five percent of the usable

drugs are manufactured from plants. Also, in His wisdom, God gave the man the

knowledge on their usage. In fact, herbs were given for the healing of man after the fall.

Interviewer: Did your Treatment or curing progression take you closer to God than you were

initially? What are some of the lessons learned from experience about God’s power?

Interviewee: Yes, the whole experience helped me in moving some step nearer to my Creator. It

Reminded me of the resurrection morning when the mortal shall take on

immortality, I need don’t have to die without any hope, it is only a fool who does not think about death. I learnt that is only God who sustains us.

Part Two: Analysis

1. What went well during the interview?

The interview session was one of its kind. The interviewee was very relaxed because the patient was prepared well in advance having chosen to use one of the members of the prayer group as the entering wedge. In addition to that, it was apparent to the respondent that the information could be treated with absolute confidentiality and it was purely for research purpose. The interview was done while the patient was at her best having been spiritually nourished and interacted with the prayer group members before the interview. The environment created was as free as possible to facilitate the interaction and discussion, often it is quite essential especially in data collection. The respondent had an opportunity to freely respond and give honest and accurate responses to the questions, which ultimately improved the conclusion and possible recommendations (Borneman, 2014).

2. What is the way forward, the future interviews?

In subsequent interviews, I will ensure that I make prior arrangement with the concerned parties more so for them to prepare in advance. In this case, the prayer group members had to excuse themselves to allow me to do the interview. They might have had other issues to discuss with the patient. Secondly, in future when visiting a patient for some interview, I will need to see to it that I equally address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the patient. For instance, I would carry some fruits, a get well soon card, taking my hymnal book and Bible. In this case, I was naïve to have focused on the interview alone, other coincidental stuff which I needed to include in the discussion add flavor to the interview.

3. The barriers encountered in the filling of the tool.

Obstacles are a common phenomenon in any expedition irrespective of its simplicity. Some challenges presented themselves during the interview. Language barrier was one of them. My patient (interviewee) was a beginner in learning of the English language. I had to get a translator to help with some questions which the patient would not understand in English. Secondly, the age gap between the interviewee and I was quite big. The interviewee was a 70 year old Hispanic, Christian female patient who had stayed in the hospital for six months. She was suffering from acute Tuberculosis. Being a 25 year old teen, I would have been a bit young to engage such an older adult. In this case, I was accompanied by one of the members in her prayer group. The patient happened to stammer, and the sickness had worsened the situation. I had to be patient with her to get to learn from her. Further, the patient misunderstood some questions which led to her giving some irrelevant answers. I had to expound more on the specific issue for the patient to give a near accurate answer. For instance, when I asked the patient about her spiritual experience, she gave more of a history of the religious experience since she was young, yet my focus was on the experience since she became sick.

4. The religious experience in the interview with the patient

The interview session gave me an opportunity to consider the spiritual and religious needs unique to patients of her age and hospital confinement. The patients helped me learn some critical lessons. One, people tend to move closer to God in times of sickness and their faith gets amplified by their sickness. Secondly, the time spent in meditating the courses that one can take in life about furthering the course of Christ on earth is lengthy, but the hustles and bustles of life consume considerable time of many mortals that they forget their Creator. The patient had an encounter with Christ in sickness. Though she claimed to believe in God, she had not previously had an encounter with Him because one never remains the same on encountering God. She confessed to having made some resolutions after the encounter. Also, the patient attested to the fact that she had more time with the Bible once in the hospital compared to the previous periods when she was not sick.

5. Stress amplification, the religious concern, and needs of the interviewee.

In this expedition, I learned that tension and deprived fitness increased the spiritual desire of my patient, and led to a soul-searching time for the patient to realign themselves spiritually. For example, the patient admitted having moved closer to God than she was before she was got sick. It shows that persons get inclined to strengthen their trust in God in the course of temptation in comparison to the time they have peace and good health (Handzo et al., 2014).

References

Borneman, T. (2014). Spiritual assessment in a patient with lung cancer. Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology, 5(6), 448.

Handzo, G. F., Cobb, M., Holmes, C., Kelly, E., & Sinclair, S. (2014). Outcomes for professional health care chaplaincy: An international call to action. Journal of health care chaplaincy, 20(2), 43-53.

Tarpley, J., & Tarpley, M. (2017). Religion and spirituality in surgery. Spirituality and Religion Within the Culture of Medicine: From Evidence to Practice, 93.

The Joint Commission (15th May, 2014). Joint Commission primary care medical home self-assessment tool. Retrieved on June 25th, 2017 from http://www.jointcommission.org/accreditation/pchi.aspx