Patients’ Perceptions of Spiritual Needs
Nancy Hoskins

The holistic approach in nursing views the individual as a whole with physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual dimensions. Although nursing claims to be a holistic profession, the spiritual dimension of the individual has been neglected. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the spiritual needs that hospitalized patients experience and then the patients' perceptions concerning appropriate nursing interventions to resolve these identified needs.

The conceptual framework used as the basis of this study was Clinebell's religious - existential needs framework which identifies four basic spiritual needs of all individuals which include: the need for meaning and purpose in life, the need to give love, the need to receive love, and the need for hope and creativity.

Sixty subjects were recruited for this exploratory study from two metropolitan acute care hospitals in the Southeast. Data were collected using the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire developed by Martin, Burrows, and Pomilio in 1976 at the State University of New York at Utica-Rome.

Findings revealed from this study were reported as raw data, percentages of defined categories (age, sex, frequency of church attendance, and type of hospital), descriptive statistics such as modes and means and t test values for significant differences between the means of specified, compared groups. Findings revealed that females scored higher on the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire regarding the need for spiritual care than males. Patients 40 years of age and older scored higher on the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire regarding the need for spiritual care than patients in the 21-39 year older range. In addition, it was found that knowledge of God's presence, prayer, visit from clergyman and care and support from another person were ranked as the four most important spiritual needs hospitalized patients experienced. Finally, 93% of the patients surveyed indicated that nurses may administer spiritual care by being concerned, kind, and cheerful.

The findings revealed from this study will alert nursing professionals to specific spiritual needs identified by hospitalized patients and the perceptions that patients have regarding the appropriate nursing interventions to resolve these identified needs. Application of the findings from this research should improve the quality of nursing care and expand the scope of nursing practice.