DEVELOPING YOUR KNOWLEDGE BASE
FILL-IN-THE-BLANKS
1.Alienation
2.Spiritual distress
3.Forgiveness
4.Spiritual guilt
5.Christian Scientist
MATCHING EXERCISES
1.d 2.a 3.e 4.b 5.g
6.c 7.a 8.d 9.c 10.b
11.a 12.d 13.c
SHORT ANSWER- a.Need for meaning and purpose
b.Need for love and relatedness
c. Need for forgiveness
2.Sample answers:
a.Offering a compassionate presence
b.Assisting in the struggle to find meaning and
purpose in the face of suffering, illness, and
death
c. Fostering relationships with God/humans that
nurture the spirit
d.Facilitating the patient’s expression of religious
or spiritual beliefs and practices - a.Life-affirming influences: Enhance life, give
meaning and purpose to existence, strengthen
feeling of self-worth, encourage self-actualization,
and are health giving and life sustaining
b.Life-denying influences: Restrict or enclose life
patterns, limit experiences and associations,
place burdens of guilt on individuals, encourage
feelings of unworthiness, and are generally
health denying and life inhibiting
4.Sample answers:
a.Many religions prescribe dietary requirements
and restrictions.
b.Some religious faiths restrict birth control
practices.
5.Sample answers:
a.As a guide to daily living: Religions may specify
dietary requirements or birth control measures.
b.As a source of support: It is common for people
to seek support from religious faith in times of
stress; this support is often vital to the acceptance
of an illness. Prayer, devotional reading, and
other religious practices often do for the person
spiritually what protective exercises do for the
body physically.
c. As a source of strength and healing: People
have been known to endure extreme physical
distress because of strong faith; patients’ fami-
lies have taken on almost unbelievable rehabili-
tative tasks because they had faith in the
eventual positive results of their effort.
d.As a source of conflict: There are times when
religious beliefs conflict with prevalent health-
care practices; for example, the doctrine of
Jehovah’s Witnesses prohibits blood
transfusions. For some, illness is viewed as pun-
ishment for sin and is inevitable.- a.Developmental considerations: As a child
matures, life experiences usually influence and
mature his/her spiritual beliefs. With advancing
years, the tendency to think about life after
death prompts some individuals to reexamine
and reaffirm their spiritual beliefs.
b.Family: A child’s parents play a key role in the
development of the child’s spirituality.
c. Ethnic background: Religious traditions differ
among ethnic groups. There are clear distinctions
between Eastern and Western spiritual traditions
as well as among those of individual ethnic
groups, such as Native Americans.
d.Formal religion: Each of the major religions has
several characteristics in common.
e.Life events: Both positive and negative life
experiences can influence spirituality and in
turn are influenced by the meaning a person’s
spiritual beliefs attribute to them.
7.Answers will vary with student’s experiences. - a.Basis of authority or source of power
b.Scripture or sacred word
c. An ethical code that defines right and wrong
d.A psychology and identity that allows its adher-
ents to fit into a group and the world to be
defined by the religion
e.Aspirations or expectations
f. Some ideas about what follows death
9.Sample answers:
a.Spiritual pain: “This seems to be a source of
deep pain for you.”
b.Spiritual alienation: “Does it seem like God is
far away from your life?”
c. Spiritual anxiety: “Are you afraid that God might
not be there for you when you need Him?”
d.Spiritual anger: “I sense a great deal of anger in
your statements about God taking away your
daughter. Can you share more about this?”
e.Spiritual loss: “Tell me more about how your
inability to get to the synagogue is affecting
you.”
f. Spiritual despair: “So you are saying that no
matter how hard you try, you’ll never be able to
be close to God?”
10.Diagnosis: Hopelessness related to belief that God
doesn’t care
Nursing care plan: The nurse should offer a
supportive presence, facilitate the patient’s
practice of religion, counsel the patient spiritually,
or contact a spiritual counselor.
11.Answers will vary with the student’s experiences. - a.The room should be orderly and free of clutter.
b.There should be a seat for the counselor at the
bedside or near the patient.
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