Spirituality: the emperor's new clothes?

Abstract

Background: This paper explores the concept of 'spirituality' with reference to the Patients' Charter that stipulates that a person's religious, spiritual and cultural needs should be respected at all times.

Aims and objectives: The aim is to offer a critical analysis of what the word 'spirituality' may mean when used in the Patients' Charter and to explore the implications of this for clinical practice.

Design: A critical discussion based on a literature review, examining in particular methodological presuppositions.

Methods: The meaning of 'spirituality' in the Judaeo-Christian biblical traditions is explored. Some of the heuristic assumptions in contemporary research on 'spirituality' are examined. Philosophical (i.e. non-scientific) and scientific questions to do with 'spirituality' are disentangled.

Results and conclusions: The paper concludes that: (i) 'Spirituality' is an elastic term not capable of universal definition as each person's spirituality is an individual matter for them and (ii) tools that are being developed for identifying a person's spirituality run the risk of making wrong presuppositions about what comprises spirituality.

Relevance to clinical practice: It is unlikely that tools can be developed that are widely applicable for identifying and assessing spirituality.