Spirituality is critical in the delivery of care since it affects the decisions made and patient’s perception on the care plan. Spiritual evaluation is the procedure of determining patient’s spiritual needs concerning health. The process assists caregivers to understand patients’ faith, needs, values and biases as linked to health care. The paper focuses on FICA and HOPE as the two spiritual assessment two whereby each approach is described and component questions illustrated. Furthermore, the reliability and validity of each tool are stipulated as well as how they can be used by a health practitioner.
Introduction
Spiritual assessment refers to the process by which health practitioner recognizes the client’s spiritual requirements regarding the wellbeing. The determination of the spiritual resources and needs, examination of the effect of beliefs on wellness decision and outcome as well discovery of obstacles are the major results of the spiritual scrutiny. Every person requires vital beliefs which that offer hope and sense of meaning in the midst of failures, tragedies, and losses (Weber " Kelley, 2013). The priorities, values and life commitments are the central issues of love, integrity, and justice which guide every person socially. The two major spiritual assessment tools used in the health facilities are the HOPE and FICA.
FICA
FICA was created by Christina Puchalski together with the faction of primary care doctors back in 1996 with the aim of assisting physicians and various health care experts in addressing spiritual problems with patients. The tool help in addressing spiritual history via the interview procedure of the client asking question questions regarding living so that to have a better understanding of needs and resources (Hodge, 2015). The spiritual narrations are obtained during the habitual or yearly patient visit although are taken during clinics. Furthermore, the tool acts as the lead for communication in the medical setting. Additionally, FICA assists patients to recall and share their values and beliefs hence being able to recognize the spiritual conflict, distress, inners resources of power and meaning of illness as well as identifying referrals.
The tool helps to structure questions for taking the spiritual history of healthcare practitioners. When using FICA in a health setting some of the recommendations essential for healthcare providers. Initially, the doctor has to consider religion as a noteworthy factor of each patient’s psychological and bodily wellness. Secondly, spirituality has to be settled at each full physical evaluation and continue considering it during the follow-up visits but it must be continuous to in patient care (Westera, Dr, " RN, 2016). Thirdly, patient’s privacy must be respected while referrals have to be done to spiritual directors, chaplains or community resources. Lastly, healthcare professionals have to be aware that their spiritual faith helps them individually and overflow during the encounter with people they care about thus making them humanistic.
F-Faith and Belief
The major question to ask in this section includes: Do you regard yourself religious or spiritual? Do you have spiritual faith that assists you to cope with anxiety? In case the client responds No, the caregiver should ask, what offer your living meaning? Moreover, it is significant to contextualize the questions to the purpose of the visit which includes the end of life, breaking bad news, stress management, and wellness. The meaning of life could also be found in career, arts, nature, humanities, family or other religious or cultural practices and beliefs. However, the question regarding the meaning of living must be asked even when the answer to spirituality is yes (Dudley, 2016).
I-Importance and Influence
What significance does your belief or faith have in your life? Do you have particular beliefs that can influence your wellness decisions? Have your beliefs manipulated you in the manner you manage health?
C- Community
The care caregiver has to ask the following questions: Are you part of the religious or spiritual society? Does this you and in which way? Do you have a type of individuals who are important or you really love? Communities such as temples, churches, and mosques or the faction of like-minded family, yoga or friend might serve a powerful support system for some clients.
A-Address in Care
How do you want the caregiver to tackle the issues in the provision of healthcare? Currently, A may also refer to the plan and assessment of spiritual distress or problem within the care plan or treatment.
Validity and Reliability
FICA is a tool that establishes the surrounding of confidence by illustrating to the client that the doctor or any other caregiver is open to pay attention to the spiritual issues. Moreover, the tool offers the ethical guidelines which physicians must adhere when obtaining the spiritual history (Hodge, 2015). However, FICA must not be utilized as the checklist but as a guide to open and aid the discussion pertaining faith problems.
HOPE
HOPE was created in 2001 by Hight and Anandarajah as the spiritual evaluation tool which facilitates the inclusion of belief assessment in the medical encounter. Moreover, the tool is often focused on identifying the hope for an individual life that might have been lost during the health issue. The acronym stands for hope, planned religion, individual practices or spirituality and impacts on health care and end of life issues (Westera et al., 2016). The questions used in this approach are open-ended and do not utilize the term spirituality so that to avoid language-based barriers during the discussion regarding faith resources and concerns.
H-Hope
The major questions on this part include; What is in your life offers the internal boost? What is the source of strength, hope, peace, comfort, and love? What sustains you and make you keep going? What do you hold on to during hard times?
O-Organized religion
Structured religion is evaluated with personal preferences and spirituality. These are the questions to ask; Are you part of the organized region? How is religion important? What components of faith are significant and not helpful? Are part of any spiritual or religious society and does it help?
P-Personal Practices/Spirituality
What is individual faith that is autonomous of structured religion? What type of association do you have with the creator?
E-Effects on end-of-life and Medical Care Issues
Is being sick impacted your capability to do things that assist you spiritually? What can I do to help you have the resources? Are you worried regarding the conflict between care decisions and beliefs?
Validity and Reliability
The tool is reliable and valid since the questions are open-ended and give the client courage to share about his or her religious experience. Besides, the information obtained by the tool tries to find the lost hope after a medical issue.
References
Dudley, J. R. (2016). Spirituality matters in social work: connecting spirituality, religion, and practice. New York: Routledge.
Hodge, D. R. (2015). Spiritual assessment in social work and mental health practice. New York: Columbia University Press.
Weber, J. R., " Kelley, J. H. (2013). Health Assessment in Nursing. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
Westera, D., A., Dr, " RN, M., MEd. (2016). Spirituality in Nursing Practice: the Basics and Beyond.
New York: Springer Publishing Company.
