According to a recent , about three-in-ten U.S. adults (29 percent) are religious 鈥渘ones鈥� 鈥� people who describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or 鈥渘othing in particular鈥� when asked about their religious identity.
For those who research the intersection of religion and health, this presents an opportunity to evaluate what care for the spiritual dimension should look like in practice.
Dr. Garrett Potts, Department of Religious Studies, 麻豆视频. (Photo courtesy of Garrett Potts)
Dr. Garrett Potts, an assistant professor in the 麻豆视频 (USF) College of Arts and Sciences Department of Religious Studies, and a team of researchers from and recently collaborated to analyze how spiritual care and assessments may be provided to religious 鈥榥ones鈥�.
The findings, which were published in the , delivered qualitative results from in-depth interviews conducted with five chaplains at Moffitt Cancer Center.
鈥淲e needed to ask important questions about how to provide care for the spiritual dimension of patients who do not identify with any specific religious tradition,鈥� Potts said. 鈥淭his was because there was a lack of research on this group, and emerging evidence suggested that they still have a psychological need to express their values and beliefs, as well as a desire to work through trauma of a spiritual-existential nature.鈥�
Regulatory bodies such as the Joint Commission emphasize that patients are entitled to whole-person care, which they understand as an integrated concern for the human body, mind, and spirit, thus, healthcare practitioners must consider a patient鈥檚 distinct religio-cultural background within their regimen of care for the "whole person," according to Potts.
The team began their data collection in 2020, with interviews taking place over web meetings, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team surveyed five experienced chaplains from USF鈥檚 Moffitt Cancer Center who answered questions related to efforts in advancing understanding of鈥�why鈥痑苍诲鈥�how spiritual care for religiously unaffiliated populations ought to take place.
The chaplains interviewed for the study shared that their interactions with religious "nones" similarly benefit from conversations that consider the traditions they inhabit, and the narratives derived from these traditions. They also indicated that, much like self-reportedly religious ones, religious 鈥渘ones鈥� possess a paradigm for understanding themselves in connection to the wider world.
Moffitt Cancer Center (Photo courtesy of WUSF Public Media and USF)
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (Photo courtesy of WUSF Public Media and USF)
During the interviews, chaplains reasoned that a primary component of spiritual caregiving and "whole person" care is the spirituality assessment, which they said enhances patient-centered care and informs medical decisions that need to be made on behalf of a patient.
鈥淲e received responses from the chaplains that helped us develop a spirituality assessment tool that is the first of its kind designed for these patients,鈥� Potts explained.
鈥淭his tool will make spirituality assessments more inclusive and patient-centered, and as a result, we hope that it will increase patient perceptions of empathetic caregiving,鈥� he added.
Potts and his team are pleased with the outcomes of their assessment but understand there is more research to be conducted in this area.
鈥淲e believe that our findings have facilitated a novel paradigm for supporting the spiritual well-being of patients from diverse religio-cultural backgrounds,鈥� he shares. 鈥淎nd we are especially hopeful about how this assessment tool will impact strategies for working with patients who exhibit no religious affiliation.鈥�
Potts noted that he has been working with Tampa General Hospital (TGH) as part of their Patient Advisory Group to incorporate findings associated with the interviews into their practice of spiritual caregiving to enhance the patient experience.
鈥淎s an institution recognized already for providing world-class care, Tampa General Hospital is an obvious and important additional partner in the group鈥檚 future work to continue promoting inclusive spiritual caregiving to all patient populations,鈥� Potts said.
鈥淚 [also] had the opportunity to discuss our research with TGH鈥檚 Clinical Pastoral Education students, and I was very impressed with the formation that they have received from the Center for Spiritual Health and Education at TGH. Both the chaplains working within that department and their CPE students deepened my own understanding of the concepts presented in our research,鈥� he added.
He and the research team also have additional plans in the coming years to partner with TGH.
鈥淭he [partnership] will build on the initial work, [which would] not have been possible without the incredible expertise of the chaplains at Moffitt Cancer Center who first paved the way,鈥� Potts said.