Spiritual care: which is the best assessment tool for palliative settings?

Background: Although it is widely acknowledged that spiritual care is an important component of good palliative care, there remains a lack of confidence about it among healthcare providers. This paper analyses the benefits and drawbacks of using spiritual history-taking tools to address the problem, considering four of the most widely used tools-FICA, FAITH, SPIRITual and HOPE. Method: The authors conducted a literature review to establish the main themes identified as important to spirituality at the end of life. They then applied these findings to the spiritual history-taking tools to determine the extent to which they may be of assistance in identifying the spiritual needs of patients receiving palliative care. Conclusion: The authors conclude that spiritual history-taking tools do have an important role in identifying the spiritual needs of patients at the end of life, with the 'HOPE' tool most comprehensively addressing the spirituality themes identified as important within the healthcare literature.