Skip to main content

Structure of the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire in Patients with Chronic Diseases, Elderly and Healthy Persons and Their Association with Quality of Life Indicators

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Spiritual Needs in Research and Practice

Abstract

The Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ) was developed to assess patients’ unmet spiritual, existential and psychosocial needs in a standardized way. For research purposes, the 20-item instrument was used. This SpNQ-20 instrument differentiates four main topics: Religious needs, Existential needs, Inner Peace needs and Giving/Generativity needs. The factorial structure was confirmed by structured equation modelling; the internal consistency of the subscales with four to six items per scale ranges from Cronbach’s alpha 0.71 to 0.87. Apart from reporting differentiated findings with the subscales, the SpNQ-20 mean score (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88) was also reported to make data internationally comparable. This standardized, valid and reliable instrument is available to be used in different samples and international studies. In this chapter, factors related to the intensity of unmet spiritual needs are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alderfer CP (1972) Existence, relatedness, and growth; human needs in organizational settings. Free Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bredle JM, Salsman JM, Debb SM, Arnold BJ, Cella D (2011) Spiritual well-being as a component of health-related quality of life: the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy—spiritual well-being scale (FACIT-Sp). Religions 2:77–94. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel2010077

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A (2010) Spirituality as a Resource to Rely on in Chronic Illness: The SpREUK Questionnaire. Religions 1:9–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A (2014) Spiritual needs of those with chronic diseases. In: Michalos AC (ed) Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 6269–6274

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Fischer J (2009) Interpretation of illness in cancer survivors is associated with health-related variables and adaptive coping styles. BMC Womens Health 9:2. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6874/9/2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Koenig HG (2010) Spiritual needs of patients with chronic diseases. Religions 1:18–27. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel1010018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Recchia DR (2016) Spiritual and Non-spiritual Needs Among German Soldiers and their Relation to Stress Perception, PTDS Symptoms, and Life Satisfaction – Results from a Structural Equation Modeling Approach. Journal of Religion and Health 55(3):747–764

    Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Balzat HJ, Heusser P (2009) Spirituelle Bedürfnisse von Patienten mit chronischen Schmerz- und Tumorerkrankungen. Perioperative Medizin 1:248

    Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Balzat HJ, Heusser P (2010) Spiritual needs of patients with chronic pain diseases and cancer – validation of the spiritual needs questionnaire. Eur J Med Res 15:266–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Janko A, Kopf A, Lux EA, Frick E (2012) Zusammenhänge zwischen psychosozialen und spirituellen Bedürfnissen und Bewertung von Krankheit bei Patienten mit chronischen Erkrankungen. Spiritual Care 1:57–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Janko A, Baumann K, Hvidt NC, Kopf A (2013) Spiritual Needs among Patients with Chronic Pain Diseases and Cancer Living in a Secular Society. Pain Med 14:1362–1373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Wassermann U, Hvidt NC, Längler A, Thiel M (2017) Spiritual needs of mothers with sick new born or premature infants. Woman and Birth 31(2):e89–e98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2017.08.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Recchia DR, Koenig H, Baumann K, Frick E (2018) Factor structure of the spiritual needs questionnaire (SpNQ) in persons with chronic diseases, elderly and healthy individuals. Religions 9:13. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9010013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing A, Baumann K, Rentschler J, Becker G (2020) Spirituelle Bedürfnisse von Tumorpatienten verändern sich während der palliativmedizinischen Betreuung kaum. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Onkologie. Online first: https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1135-3566

  • Erichsen NB, Büssing A (2013) Spiritual needs of elderly living in retirement / nursing homes. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013:Article ID 913247. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/913247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Höcker A, Krüll A, Koch U, Mehnert A (2014) Exploring spiritual needs and their associated factors in an urban sample of early and advanced cancer patients. Eur J Cancer Care 23:786–794. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.12200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipowski ZJ (1970) Physical illness, the individual and the coping processes. Psychiatry Med 1:91–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Offenbaecher M, Kohls N, Toussaint LL, Sigl C, Winkelmann A, Hieblinger R, Walther A, Büssing A (2013) Spiritual needs in patients suffering from fibromyalgia. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013:Article ID 178547. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/178547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterman AH, Fitchett G, Brady MJ, Hernandez L, Cella D (2002) Measuring spiritual well-being in people with cancer: the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy – spiritual well-being scale (FACIT-Sp). Ann Behav Med 24:49–58

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Thanks a lot to all who have helped to recruit the participants, particularly Hans-Joachim Balzat, Gerhild Becker, Jens Büntzel, Eckhard Frick, Andreas Kopf, and Jochen Rentschler.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arndt Büssing .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Büssing, A. (2021). Structure of the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire in Patients with Chronic Diseases, Elderly and Healthy Persons and Their Association with Quality of Life Indicators. In: Büssing, A. (eds) Spiritual Needs in Research and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70139-0_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics