Interviewee Details
This assignment deals with the development of an effective spiritual assessment tool in compliance with the guidelines as mentioned in the Joint Commission Resource. In order to develop a qualitative spiritual assessment tool, an interview was conducted where an acquaintance of the interviewer was interviewed. The personal details of the participant would not be disclosed in order to maintain anonymity of the interview participant. It should be noted here that the assignment would be addressed in two parts, the first part would comprise of the interview script and the second part would comprise of a vivid analysis of the interview response gathered.
Hello! I am (enter your name). I am the interviewer and I would be interviewing my acquaintance who is 68 years old and is a male. My interview respondent is an Asian in terms of ethnicity and is a staunch follower of the Buddhist religion. The name of the interview respondent would not be disclosed in order to maintain privacy. The medical history of the participant reveals that he has Type II Diabetes, Hypertension and depression. It should be mentioned here that the interview was conducted only after obtaining the consent of the participant and the participant was also thoroughly informed about the objective and the purpose of the interview. The interview was conducted in the participant’s drawing room at the convenient time of the participant. The participant was comfortably seated in the drawing room in his couch and the interviewer was seated on the opposite side in another couch.
Interviewer: What are things that provide you with strength and hope in life?
Participant: “Hmmm (after a pause)….Well at my age, I think faith in God gives me strength and hope. My son and my daughter both are settled in a different continent and visit me once in two years. My wife left for her heavenly abode a year ago and at this age, faith in God is what keeps me going.
Participant: “Yes (firmly), I do believe in God. In fact I hear God’s divine messages and I owe everything to him. I have been able to fulfil my responsibilities as a father and when my wife (name not to be disclosed), was alive, she often told me that I was a great husband. I owe it all to the almighty. Faith in God is what made me bear my beloved’s loss. (looking down at the floor)
Participant: “I have a lot of health issues, I have hypertension, diabetes and depression. I developed hypertension and depression after my wife’s death, probably because I am not used to staying alone. My son and daughter stay far away, they visit me once in two years. They do their bit, they take care of me and have appointed a care taker. She cooks my food and takes cares of my medication schedule. My children regularly send me greetings and money but at this age, you don’t need all that. You need them. (staring at the floor)..I understand they are busy and don’t feel like bothering them every now and then.”
Interviewee Response Analysis
Participant: “Aaaah…dying is..God’s way of calling us home. Death is complete freedom from the cycle of life..Death is returning to the father and the eternal home. For the good deeds I have done, I would be called in heaven where I would meet my wife..”
Participant: “My son wanted me to visit a wellness centre to cope with depression…The therapy required me to stay there for two weeks…I did not like the way the lady there forced me to do things at different times of the day….she did not even let me pray ..I told my son….I don’t need any therapy…My prayers to God will give me strength and my time has come to respond to God’s eternal summon….Till the time comes I would enact on God’s divine messages that I hear”
Based on the collected interview response, the transcript would be thoroughly examined in this section and a spiritual assessment tool would be designed. The responses gathered significantly presented an overview on the spiritual needs of the client. The responses gathered would be studied under three subcategories that would include, cultural competence, spiritual salience and spiritual needs and providence of service (Moreira-Almeida,2014,p.178). It should be critically noted here that the mood and affect of the client while conducting the interview was identified to be lowered and flat. The appearance of the client seemed to be appropriate in terms of grooming, hygiene and clothing. The subject maintained considerable eye-contact but maintained an uncomfortable posture with bent back and with his tilted down. On most of the occasions the subject exhibited less energy while speaking.
Cultural competence: While performing a spiritual assessment, it is extremely important for the assessor to be culturally competent so as to make the client comfortable and clearly get an idea about the spiritual needs of the participant (Hodge, 2013,p.225). It should be noted here that the client is a senior citizen and is also affected with serious chronic illness including TIIDM, Hypertension and depression. To promote an accelerated recovery it is important to provide a culturally safe care aligned with the religious background of the client.
Spiritual Salience: The interviewed client was spiritually committed to Buddhism and his religious belief formed an integral part of his life. It can be deduced that the client would be receptive to the designed therapeutic interventions for him on account of the conflict between the religious belief and the service provided to him. Hence, it can be said that incorporating the client’s religious sentiment while devising a therapy would seem appropriate (Wynne, 2013,p.41). For instance, the tenets of the spiritual cognitive therapy could be replaced by the tenets based on the client’s religious belief so as to preserve the religious sentiments of the client while assisting therapy (Jaul et al., 2014,p.28).
Spiritual norms and providence of service: While planning a service it is pivotal to measure the level of impact of religious belief of the client on the services offered (Lucchetti et al., 2013,p.162). As mentioned by Hodge (2015), it is important to conduct an elaborate assessment based on the evaluation of the spiritual belief in the client. In the interview response, the client stated listening to God’s messages in a spiritual tone which can be considered as a symptom of mental illness but a divine connection in context of the Buddhist religion. Further, the client also reported a negative service experience previously, hence care should be taken so as to formulate an assessment based on the key understanding of the spiritual belief of the client.
Therefore on the basis of the analysis of the interview, the spiritual assessment tool developed by me would include the following questions:
- What are things that provide you with strength and hope in life?
- Do you believe in God? How does God’s presence affect your life?
- In which way has your illness affected your family?
- How do you perceive dying?
- How does your faith in God help you cope with the illness that you have? Could you share some experience?
References
Hodge, D. R. (2013). Implicit spiritual assessment: An alternative approach for assessing client spirituality. Social work, 58(3), 223-230.
Hodge, D.R., 2015. Spiritual assessment in social work and mental health practice. Columbia University Press.
Jaul, E., Zabari, Y. & Brodsky, J., 2014. Spiritual background and its association with the medical decision of, DNR at terminal life stages. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 58(1), pp.25-29.
Lucchetti, G., Bassi, R.M. & Lucchetti, A.L.G., 2013. Taking spiritual history in clinical practice: a systematic review of instruments. Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 9(3), pp.159-170.
Moreira-Almeida, A., Koenig, H.G. & Lucchetti, G., 2014. Clinical implications of spirituality to mental health: review of evidence and practical guidelines. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 36(2), pp.176-182.
Wynne, L. (2013). Spiritual care at the end of life. Nursing Standard (through 2013), 28(2), 41.
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