Abstract
The Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ) is an established measure of psychosocial, existential and spiritual needs. Its 4-factor structure has been primarily validated in persons with chronic diseases, but until now has not been done in elderly and stressed healthy populations. Therefore, we tested the factor structure of the SpNQ in: (1) persons with chronic diseases (n = 627); (2) persons with chronic disease plus elderly (n = 940); (3) healthy persons (i.e., adults and elderly) (n = 1468); and (4) chronically ill, elderly, and healthy persons together (n = 2095). The suggested structure was then validated using structured equation modelling (SEM). The 4-factor structure of the 20-item SpNQ (SpNQ-20) was confirmed, differentiating Religious Needs, Existential Needs, Inner Peace Needs, and Giving/Generativity Needs. The psychometric properties of the measure indicated (CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.04 and SRMR = 0.03), with good reliability indices (Cronbach’s alpha varying from 0.71 to 0.81). This latest version of the SpNQ provides researchers with a reliable and valid instrument that can now be used in comparative studies. Cultural and religious differences can be addressed using their different language versions, assuming the SpNQ’s structure is maintained.
Highlights
Confronted with chronic and life-threatening diseases, patients often wish to talk with someone about their existential and spiritual needs, but have difficulties finding a person who they trust enough to talk about such ‘private’ aspects of their lives
All persons except the very old persons responded to anonymous questionnaires by themselves; elderly persons were offered assistance in self-reporting
The Inner Peace Needs factor initially consisted of six items and is composed of four items ; item N5 was switched to the Existential Needs factor and N13 was removed
Summary
Confronted with chronic and life-threatening diseases, patients often wish to talk with someone about their existential and spiritual needs, but have difficulties finding a person who they trust enough to talk about such ‘private’ aspects of their lives. Health professionals may have limited time to address patientsspecific existential and spiritual needs, and often see this task as going beyond their professional training. In a study of German out-patients with diseases associated with chronic pain, researchers found that “23% talked with a chaplain/priest about their spiritual needs, 20% had no partner to talk about these needs, while for 37% it was important to talk with their medical doctor about these needs” (Büssing et al 2009). About half of these patients (47%) did not feel supported by their religious community This means that a large proportion of persons with chronic and life-threatening diseases have unmet spiritual needs that no one seems to care about. Despite the clear recommendations of a US Consensus Conference (Puchalski et al 2009)
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