What I’ve learned about spirituality in healthcare: Part 8

Asking questions

Health professionals often tell me that they would like to address spirituality more often in practice, but they are unsure how to begin.

How do I raise the topic?

These are understandable concerns. Yet one of the things I have learned through both clinical practice and research is that spirituality does not always require a separate conversation. Sometimes it can be woven into the healthcare conversations we are already having.

Think about the image of shopping bags.

As health professionals, we walk into every patient interaction carrying a healthcare agenda. Our bags may contain assessment tasks, treatment goals, discharge planning, documentation requirements and professional responsibilities. These tasks are important. They help guide our work and ensure that patients receive safe and effective care.

The question is not whether we have a healthcare agenda.

The question is whether there is room within that agenda for conversations about meaning, values, hope, connection and sources of strength.

One way to do this is through informal questions.

These questions arise naturally within conversation and can be adapted to suit the person’s circumstances.

For example:

What has been helping you get through this?

Do you feel like you have enough support around you?

What matters most to you right now?

What are you hoping to return to when you go home?

Questions such as these can open conversations about identity, purpose, relationships and resilience without requiring patients to identify as spiritual or religious.

Informal questions may be particularly useful in healthcare settings where interactions are brief or highly structured. They allow health professionals to respond flexibly to the individual person and the situation at hand.

A second option is to incorporate spirituality more formally into assessment processes.

Some organisations include routine screening questions about beliefs, values, cultural practices or sources of support. 

Others use structured assessment tools such as the FICA (Faith/Beliefs; Importance; Community; Address in Care) framework, which provides a systematic way of exploring spiritual beliefs and resources.

Formal approaches can be particularly useful because they help normalise spirituality as a routine part of holistic care rather than something that is only discussed when a crisis occurs.

Importantly, there is no single correct approach.

Different professions, organisations and clinical settings will have different needs and opportunities.

The key point is that health professionals do not need to choose between addressing physical health concerns and acknowledging spirituality. Both can be incorporated into a holistic care discussion.

Whether through informal conversations or more structured assessment processes, asking thoughtful questions creates opportunities for people to discuss what matters most to them.

Key quote and reference: 

“Addressing spiritual needs and concerns in clinical settings is critical in enhancing [quality of life]” (p.163)

Borneman, T., Ferrell, B., & Puchalski, C. (2010). Evaluation of the FICA Tool for Spiritual Assessment. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 40(2), 163-173. doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2009.12.019

Next up in this series: Finding your place within the conversation

I’m Heather So, and my work centres around making space for spirituality in healthcare conversations. I offer workshops and training for health professionals, talks for people navigating a healthcare journey, and I am the author of The Suffering of a Child, now available for purchase.

Feel free to get in touch with me.