I.

CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS
- TERMS RELATED TO SPIRITUALITY
- THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPIRITUALITY, RELIGION, AND HEALTH
a. Impact of Religion and Spirituality on Health
b. Incorporating Religion and Spirituality into Care
- SELF-UNDERSTANDING OF SPIRITUALITY

II. SPIRITUAL ASSESSMENT

- APPROACH
- TECHNIQUES
a. Nonformal
b. Formal
----SAMPLE FORMAT----
- Assessment procedure
- VALIDATING AND DOCUMENTING FINDINGS

III. Analysis of Data: Diagnostic Reasoning

- SELECTED NURSING DIAGNOSES
- SELECTED COLLABORATIVE PROBLEMS
- MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Good day! I am Alexandrea A. Modequillo and I will be reporting for the continuation of
the assessment procedure, highlighting its normal and abnormal findings as well as
validating ad documenting these findings. Moreover, I will tackle the third topic which
will be the ANALYSIS OF DATA, DIAGNOSTIC REASONING.

Let us proceed with the next assessment procedure, in continuation of the report of Ms.
Mugot.

Ask transition question from organizational to personal beliefs and ask client to specify
differences or similarities in own beliefs and the beliefs of the faith or denomination with
which affiliated.

Ask the questions:

 Do you have personal spiritual beliefs independent of organized religion? What

are they?
 Do you believe in God? What kind of relationship do you have with God?
 What aspects of spirituality or spiritual practices do you find most helpful to you
personally? (for example, prayer, meditation, and reading scripture)

The normal findings for this is that:

 The client describes personal beliefs that coincide with denominational beliefs.
 Denominational beliefs do not conflict with required medical care.
 The client reports relationship with God as healthy and positive.
 The client desires to have time in the hospital to meditate and read scripture to
gain focus and relieve stress.

On the other hand, the abnormal findings for this is that:

 The client is reporting very limited similarities between denomination and

personal beliefs, past utilization of prayer and listening to religious music, but
currently has no avenue for the fostering of spirituality.
 Next, directly address beliefs that may conflict with or affect one’s health care. Assist
clients with describing spiritual practices if appropriate. Attend to end-of-life issues if the
condition dictates.

Ask the questions:

 Has being sick (or your current situation) affected your ability to do the things that
usually help you spirituality? (Or affected your relationship with God?)
 As a nurse, is there anything I can do to help you access the resources that
usually help you?
 Are you worried about any conflicts between your beliefs and your medical
situation/care/decisions?
 Would it be helpful for you to speak to a clinical chaplain/community spiritual
leader?
 Are there any specific practices or restrictions I should know about in providing
your medical care? (e.g., dietary restrictions, use of blood products)
 IF THE CLIENT IS DYING: How do your beliefs affect the kind of nursing care
you would like me to provide over the next few days/weeks/months?

The normal findings for this are: (First)

 Client views present diagnosis of cancer as “part of God’s will for her life” or/and
desires to continue nature walks and other spiritual practices to develop a closer
relationship with God.
 Client makes no reference to perceived abandonment or rejection that may lead
to depression.
 Client desires to have clergy from her local church for visitation time.
 Client asks the nurse to contact local clergy and provides telephone number.

The abnormal findings would be:

 Client appears traumatized with cancer diagnosis and views the illness as a fault
of her past lifestyle or a punishment.
 The client refuses visits from local clergy and hospital chaplains.
 Lastly, the client declines conversation and just wants to be sent home to die.
Let us now move on to VALIDATING AND DOCUMENTING FINDINGS.

In validating and documenting findings, the nurse should validate the subjective and
objective data collected during assessment. Noticeably, the subjective data will be the
primary source of information during a spiritual assessment, but the objective data can
validate or call into question information presented to the nurse. Moreover, both normal
and abnormal findings should be documented by the nurse.

Now, let us proceed with the ANALYSIS OF DATA: DIAGNOSTIC REASONING.

A client’s spirituality often affects his or her health. There are numerous capacities in
which this occurs and frequently will go unnoticed without assessment. After collecting
subjective and objective data pertaining to the client’s spiritual assessment, identify
abnormal findings and client strengths using diagnostic reasoning. Then, cluster the data
to reveal any significant patterns or abnormalities.

I will be discussing possible conclusions that the nurse may make after assessing a
client’s spirituality.

So in this topic, I will be discussing three main things. These are:

 SELECTED NURSING DIAGNOSES

 SELECTED COLLABORATIVE PROBLEMS
 MEDICAL PROBLEMS

Let us first proceed with the SELECTED NURSING DIAGNOSES. Later on, I will be
mentioning selected nursing diagnoses that may be identified when analyzing data from a
spiritual assessment.
SELECTED NURSING DIAGNOSES includes three major classification. First is the
Health Promotion Diagnoses, second is the Risk Diagnoses, and third is the Actual
Diagnoses.

For the Health Promotion Diagnoses, possible nursing diagnosis for the client can be:

 Readiness for enhanced hope

A pattern of expectations and desires for mobilizing energy on one’s own behalf,
which can be strengthened.

 Readiness for enhanced spiritual well-being

A pattern of experiencing and integrating meaning and purpose in life through

connectedness with self, others, art, music, literature, nature, and/or a power
greater than oneself, which can be strengthened.

For the Risk Diagnoses, possible nursing diagnosis for the client can be:
 Risk for spiritual distress

Susceptible to an impaired ability to experience and integrate meaning and

purpose in life through connectedness within self, literature, nature, and/or a
power greater than oneself, which may compromise health.

 Risk for loneliness

Susceptible to experiencing discomfort associated with a desire or need for more

contact with others, which may compromise health.

 Risk for social isolation

Social isolation is defined as aloneness experienced by the individual and

perceived as imposed by others and as a negative or threatening state.
And lastly, for the Actual Diagnoses, possible nursing diagnosis for the client can be:
 Spiritual Distress

A state of suffering related to the impaired ability to experience meaning in life

through connections with self, others, the world, or a superior being.

 Hopelessness

Subjective state in which an individual sees limited or no alternatives or personal

choices available and is unable to mobilize energy on own behalf.

 Moral distress

Response to the inability to carry out one's chosen ethical or moral decision
and/or action.

Let us proceed to the next, SELECTED COLLABORATIVE PROBLEMS

After grouping the data, certain collaborative problems may become apparent.
Remember that collaborative problems differ from nursing diagnoses in that they cannot
be prevented or managed with independent nursing interventions. However, these
physiologic complications of medical conditions can be detected and monitored by the
nurse. In addition, the nurse can use physician- and nurse-prescribed interventions to
minimize the complications of these problems. The nurse may also have to refer the
client in such situations for further treatment of the problem. The following is a list of
collaborative problems that may be identified when assessing spirituality. These
problems are worded as risk for complications (RC), followed by the problem. Such
includes examples in this slide:
 RC: Depression
 RC: Hypertension
 RC: Hypoglycemia
 RC: Opportunistic infections

The RC related to spirituality is due to the psychological or physiologic responses of the

body under stress. Stress induced by states such as spiritual distress will create a
cascade of events within the body that produce physiologic responses and are
influenced by the size and duration of the stressor as well as the client’s ability to
respond to that stressor.
Lastly, we have here MEDICAL PROBLEMS
After grouping the data, it may become apparent that the client has signs and symptoms
that require medical diagnosis and treatment. REFERRAL TO A PRIMARY CARE
PROVIDER IS NECESSARY.

Sooooo that concludes our report for ASSESSING SPIRITUALITY & RELIGIOUS
PRACTICES. And if you have any question, query, or concern regarding this topic, do not
hesitate to contact us. Thank you for listening and have a blessed day!