A Spiritual Needs Assessment Tool
Eleanor Williams

A spiritual needs assessment tool was developed to identify spiritual needs of clients and was tested with 40 disabled subjects of predominantly Caucasian, Christian background selected by convenience sampling. Reliability testing, utilizing the test-retest method and calculation of Chronbach's Alpha Coefficient, supported the conclusion that results obtained using the tool were stable and internally consistent.

The tool consists of two Likert scales which measure the ideal spiritual characteristics and the actual spiritual state of subjects. By calculating the discrepancy between the two scales, spiritual needs are quantified.

The tool was found to be sensitive and valid as evidenced by a significant difference between Actual and Ideal scores and by a concurrent interview. Some degree of spiritual disequilibrium was found in 85% of the subjects demonstrated by calculating Discrepancy scores from the scale scores.

Subjects found the tool acceptable and nonoffensive. The tool identified spiritual needs of the sample.