SPIRITUALITY ASSESSMENT

Spirituality Assessment

ASSESSMENT OF SPIRITUALITY IN THE CLINICAL SETTING

A project presented to the Graduate Faculty

Of the Fort Hays State University in

Partial fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree of Master of Science in Nursing

by

Chavonne Wyatt

BSN, Fort Hays State University

Date _____________________________Approved_______________________

GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL

The Graduate Committee of Chavonne Wyatt

Hereby approves her project as meeting partial

Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of

Master of Science in Nursing

Date_____________________ Approved____________________________________

Major Professor

Approved____________________________________

Committee Member

Approved____________________________________

Committee Member

Copyright © 2011 Chavonne Wyatt

All rights reserved

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION1

Statement of Reason2

Statement of Problem2

Statement of Plan3

Benefits of Investigation4

Significance of the Investigation4

Definition of Variables4

Summary5

CHAPTER II - REVIEW OF LITERATURE6

CHAPTER III - PLAN OF ACTION7

Theoretical Framework7

Purpose of Project9

Impact of Plan9

Tools for Study10

Approaches to Determining Spiritual Assessment Content11

Summary13

CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION

This chapter is an introduction to the investigation of the effects of spiritual assessment in the clinical setting. This investigation seeks to determine whether implementation of a spiritual assessment in the clinical setting is applicable. The health care professions are moving toward holistic care, which must include aspects of spirituality (Fawcett & Noble, 2003). Spirituality is defined in this investigation as a very personal, comforting, peaceful sense of greater well being received when communicating or feeling the presence of a higher power in life or the dying process. While this definition cannot reveal all aspects of spirituality to everyone, it is broad enough to encompass most feelings of spirituality (Wyatt, 2008). Spirituality has been documented as having positive effects on people with disease and shows to improve the quality of life and increased sense of well being in patients (Tuck & Thinganjana, 2007). It is found that spirituality is essential to human beings (Rieg, Mason, & Preston, 2006).

Spirituality refers to the awareness of an inner self and the tendency to construct meaning through the feeling of being united to dimensions that transcend the ego and can be experienced levels. In the path, the veil of invisibility on the topic of spirituality was neglected in a pure and simple motion opening this seemed forgotten, replaced or to unknown (Cooke, 2008). Nurses are easily accepted into the patient's initial sphere during the course of their illness and should be able to address spiritual issues comfortably. Besides the significance of active listening and being present, spiritual support may also take the form of sitting with the patient during a religious ritual, joining in prayer, reading or providing inspirational literature. Although spirituality in self-care for professional's intensive care nursing is a subject little discussed, the results of this study suggest new possibilities for spirituality to be within the world of care therapy intensive, the inspiration from the experiences shared by the participants (Wilfred, 2006). Perspective care takers about what was experienced details a time that you want to reunite in their practice scientific knowledge, the expression of feeling human and profound awareness of being. It interprets the concept of spirituality as an integral dimension of the health of a person, and it is acknowledged that interpretation of national and international levels (Emblen, ...