• Cassio Murilo Trovo Hidalgo Filho, Ana Julia Aguiar de Freitas, Lucas Salviano de Abreu, Hendrio Reginaldo Santiago, and Alessandro Gonçalves Campolina.
• MD. Resident, Internal Medicine Department, Hospital do Servidor Público Municipal (HSPM), São Paulo (SP), Brazil.
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2022 Jan 1; 141 (2): 125130125-130.

BackgroundThe relationship between spirituality and health has been the object of growing discussion. There is a lack of data on spiritual needs assessments in Brazil.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the spiritual needs of patients admitted to a public tertiary hospital and perform a comparative analysis between patients with and without indications for palliative care.Design And SettingA cross-sectional observational study included patients hospitalized between August and December 2020 in Hospital do Servidor Publico Municipal, Sao Paulo, Brazil.MethodsThe included patients answered a questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic data, the Duke religiosity scale, and the Spiritual Needs Assessment for Patients (SNAP) tool for a spiritual needs assessment. The World Health Organization Palliative Needs tool (NECPAL) was used to evaluate the indications for palliative care. The level of significance adopted was 5%.ResultsA total of 66 patients were included in this study. Most participants (97%) declared themselves as belonging to a religion. The group without indication for palliative care by the NECPAL showed greater spiritual (P = 0.043) and psychosocial needs (P = 0.004). No statistically significant difference was observed in the religious needs domain (P = 0.176). There were no statistically significant differences in the Duke scale scores between the two groups.ConclusionSpiritual, psychosocial, and religious needs are prevalent among hospitalized patients, and multidisciplinary teams must consider these needs in their management approach. In addition, this study suggests that psychosocial and spiritual needs can be even higher in patients who do not receive palliative care.

21 keywords...

hide…