SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF THE PATIENT WITH AN ACUTE ILLNESS

 Acute illness
 Potter and Perry (1997) defined it as “characterized by symptoms that are of
relatively short duration, are usually severe, and affect the functioning of the
client in all dimensions.”
 Examples: pneumonia, influenza, bronchitis, gastritis
 During periods of acute illness, whether self-limiting or associated with a chronic disease,
the patient may need comfort and support in coping with the sequel of an infectious
process as well as with the diagnosis of their condition.

Spiritual Needs in Acute Illness

 Effects of an acute illness in a person:

 POSITIVE: This may leave the individual with a great deal of uncommitted time
to ponder the meaning of life and the illness experience.
 NEGATIVE: The onset of sudden and unanticipated acute illness may pose
serious emotional and spiritual problems related to fear of possible death and
disability.
 Appropriate Spiritual Behaviors:
 Sitting quietly at the patient’s bedside for a brief period
 Saying a short prayer aloud or offering a silent prayer
 Reading a scripture (if acceptable to the patient and comfortable for the nurse)

Spiritual Health in Acute Illness

 According to Peterson and Potter (1997), the strength of a client’s spirituality influences
how he or she copes with sudden illness, and how quickly he or she can move to
recovery.
o Spiritually Healthy patient – person who find comfort and strength in his or her
spiritual or religious philosophy of life.
o Atheist – person who denies the existence of God.
o Agnosticism – person who has uncertainty about the existence of God.
 Spiritual Health correlates importantly with one’s ability to cope with an illness
experience. The patients recognized that their spiritual or religious beliefs or lack thereof
were significantly related to their adaptation to living with their illness conditions.

CHRONICALLY ILL PATIENTS

For many patients confronted with chronic diseases, spirituality/religiosity is an

important resource for coping. Patients often report unmet spiritual and existential needs, and
spiritual support is also associated with better quality of life. Caring for spiritual, existential and
psychosocial needs is not only relevant to patients at the end of their life but also to those
suffering from long-term chronic illnesses. Spiritual needs may not always be associated with
life satisfaction, but sometimes with anxiety, and can be interpreted as the patients’ longing for
spiritual well-being. The needs for peace, health and social support are universal human needs
and are of special importance to patients with long lasting courses of disease. The
factor, Actively Giving, may be of particular importance because it can be interpreted as
patients’ intention to leave the role of a `passive sufferer´ to become an active, self-actualizing,
giving individual. One can identify four core dimensions of spiritual
needs, i.e., Connection, Peace, Meaning/Purpose, and Transcendence, which can be attributed to
underlying psychosocial, emotional, existential, and religious needs. The proposed model can
provide a conceptual framework for further research and clinical practice. In fact, health care that
addresses patients’ physical, emotional, social, existential and spiritual needs (referring to a bio-
psychosocial-spiritual model of health care) will contribute to patients’ improvement and
recovery. Nevertheless, there are several barriers in the health care system that makes it difficult
to adequately address these needs.

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Holistic perioperative nursing care of children and their families includes assessing their
spiritual needs and identifying interventions that help them achieve spiritual comfort. This is
achieved by therapeutic listening and by facilitating children's and family members' access to
clergy members of their practice of religious rites and rituals. Perioperative nurses have a unique
opportunity and responsibility to assess children's or family members' spiritual needs and to
intervene on their behalf. This article describes the opportunities a surgical liaison nurse may
have to intervene on the behalf of family members during children's perioperative experiences.

OLDER ADULTS

The religious and spiritual needs of elders are sometimes overlooked after admission to a
nursing home. Meeting these needs may become the responsibility of the social services or
activity department, especially when the facility does not have a chaplain or rabbi on the staff. 

Fourteen Spiritual Needs of Elders

• A need for meaning, purpose, and hope

• A need to transcend circumstances
• A need for continuity
• A need for support in dealing with loss
• A need for validation and support of religious behaviours
• A need to engage in religious behaviours
• A need for personal dignity and sense of worthiness
• A need for unconditional love
• A need to express anger and doubt
• A need to feel that God in on their side
• A need to love and serve others
• A need to be thankful
• A need to forgive and be forgiven
• A need to prepare for death and dying

DYING AND BEREAVEMENT

Being diagnosed with a terminal illness often causes people to think about death, loss and
grief, in ways that haven’t had to before.  Some people with a terminal illness may want to
reflect on the meaning of their life, perhaps more so than at any other time in their life.   Spiritual
practice, including religion, may become more important to someone as they approach the end of
their life. Spiritual needs are connected to physical, emotional and social needs too. Some studies
have suggested that spiritual wellbeing may affect suffering at the end of life.  Spiritual
assessment and care are therefore very important when caring for someone with a terminal
illness.

DURING DISASTER

Compassion is a language that is understood across cultures, religions, and nations. Being
compassionate and empathetic is a basic responsibility of health care providers responding to
disasters. Compassion and empathy cannot be operationalized unless providers show culturally
competent, ethically right, and spiritually caring behaviour. In addition to being accepting of
cultures other than their own, providers must read literature and familiarize themselves with the
predominant cultures of the affected population. Ethically right decision making is essentially an
act of balancing the risks and benefits to the entire society. Spiritual care is an important
dimension of total health, and therefore recognition and resolution of the spiritual needs of
disaster victims is an essential role of health care providers. Disaster management is teamwork
and therefore requires that health care providers draw on the expertise and support of other team
members; coordinating efforts with local religious, social governmental organizations, and
NGOs to deal with the intangible effects of the cultural and spiritual impact of a disaster and to
prevent further demoralization of the affected community is imperative. Disasters occur, and the
only thing that can ameliorate their devastating effects is to improve disaster preparedness and
respond collectively and courageously to every catastrophic event.

Insights:

Everyone’s needs are different. Some people might have all their spiritual needs met by carrying
out their own practice. Others might need some practical help to do the things that are important
to them as their illness advances. Some people will need more support and may want to talk to
you about their spiritual concerns. Encourage the person to explore their worries and fears.
Listen without passing judgement or dismissing their concerns.  Try to understand and listen to
your patient’s beliefs, without imposing your own. If you don’t feel comfortable having these
conversations, ask an experienced colleague or a specialist such as a chaplain to be involved.
Leave room for listening, thoughtfulness and stillness. You can also encourage the patient to find
their own coping techniques, especially ones that have worked for them in the past. This may
include doing things they enjoy, writing down thoughts and feelings, and finding ways to relax
such as listening to music or having a massage. 

References

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21095554/

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/1/1/18/htm

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8787377/

http://www.nursinghome.org/fam/fam_003.html