URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF NURSING
SPIRITUALITY IN NURSING

STUDY GUIDE 3: NURSING ASSESSMENT OF SPIRITUAL NEEDS

SPIRITUAL SELF –ASSESSMENT SCALE

Instructions: Pls. answer the following assessment scale:
1. Answer the O’Brien Spiritual Assessment Scale
2. Check the response category which best identifies your personal beliefs about the
item.
3. Options: Strongly agree ,Agree ,Uncertain ,Disagree, Strongly Disagree
4. After completing the scale reflect and pray on areas of growth in your “faith walk”
5. Send to the Google drive for analization and checking.
Three main content of O’Brien Spiritual Assessment Scale by Mary Elizabeth O’Brien (2011)
Spirituality in Nursing: Standing on Holy Ground, Sudbury, MA: Jones and Barlett
There are three important factors that need to be considered by the nurses in order to
practice holistic Nursing care.

Personal Faith
Refers to the confidence or trust in a person or thing or a belief not based on proof.
Nurses should have a clear understanding of this distinction from religious practice or
they may neglect spiritual needs in focusing only on a patient’s religious practice. (O’Brien,
2011)

Religious Practice
It relates to a person’s beliefs and behaviours associated with a specific religious
tradition or denomination .The nurse’s and patient’s practice of religious beliefs; ritual
observance of faith is another thing to be considered because if you believe on something
like if you’re a Christian, Buddhist, Mormons, Muslims, Protestant, etc. you will show your
beliefs and practices in your everyday life.

Spiritual Contentment
The opposite of spiritual distress that pertains to one’s internal satisfaction which
does not demand changes in external circumstances. It refers to one’s spiritual maturity of
being content in his /her own beliefs. When an individual reports minimal to notable spiritual
distress, he or she may be considered to be in a state of spiritual contentment (Johnson,
2011)

Interpretation of the Tool

Descriptive Statistics (the computation of mean and standard deviation) –to determine the
spirituality of nurses and patients. The Computed mean values resulting from the study
were interpreted and analysed using the following hypothetical mean ranges.

Norms and Interpretation for all the Instruments

Weight Mean Range Description Interpretation
5 5.50-5.0 Strongly Agree Very Highly Spiritual
4 3.50-4.4.49 Agree Highly Spiritual
3 2.50-3.49 Uncertain Spiritual
2 1.50-2.49 Disagree Less Spiritual
1 1.00-1.49 Strongly disagree Not Spiritual
 A. PERSONAL FAITH
1. There is a Supreme Being, or God, who created humankind and who cares for all
creatures. SA___A ____ U____D____SD
2. I am at peace with God. SA___A_____U_____D___SD
3. I feel confident that God is watching over me. SA__A__D__U__D__SD
4. I received strength and comfort from my spiritual beliefs. SA__A__U___D__SD___
5. I believe that God is interested in all the activities of my life.
SA__A__U__D__SD__
6. I trust that God will take care of the future. SA__A__U__D__SD__
7. My spiritual beliefs support a positive image of myself and of others, as members of
God’s family. SA__A__U__D__SD__

B. RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
1. Belonging to a church or faith group is an important part of my life.
SA__A__U__D__SD__
2. I am strengthened by participation in religious worship services.
SA__A__U__D___SD__
3. I am satisfaction in religiously motivated activities other than attending worship
services, for example volunteer work of being kind to others.
SA__A__U__D__SD__
4. I am supported by relationships with friends or family members who share my
religious beliefs. SA__A__U__D__SD__
5. I received comfort and support from spiritual companion, for example, a pastoral
caregiver or friend. SA___A__U__D__SD__
6. My relationship with God is strengthened by personal prayer.
SA__A__U__D__SD____
7. I am helped to communicate with God by reading or thinking about religious or
spiritual things. SA__A__U__D__SD__
C. SPIRITUAL CONTENTMENT
1. I experience pain associated with my spiritual beliefs. SA__A__U__D__SD__
2. I feel “far away “from God. SA__A__U__D__SD__
3. I am afraid that God might not take care of my needs.
SA__A__U__D__SD___
4. I have done some things for which I fear God may not forgive me.
SA__A__U__D__SD__
5. I get angry at God for allowing “bad things” to happen to me, or to people
I care about. SA__A__U__D__SD__
6. I feel that I lost God’s love. SA__A__U__D__SD__
7. I believe that there is no hope of obtaining God’s love.
SA__A__U__D__SD__

PREPARED BY:

DR. PRISCILLA R. BAUN

Faculty –in charge