Running head: SPIRITUAL ASSESSMENT TOOLBOX

Journal Article Review: Developing a Spiritual Assessment Toolbox

Liberty University

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Developing a Spiritual Assessment Toolbox

Summary
Developing a spiritual assessment toolbox is essential for anyone working in the helping
profession as evidenced by the current movement to integrate Psychology and Christianity.
Hodges (2005) article, Developing a Spiritual Assessment Toolbox: A Discussion of the
Strengths and Limitations of Five Different Assessment Methods, can be a starting point for the
helping professional. As the title suggests, the article discusses five different spiritual assessment
methods along with the strengths and limitations for both the client and worker.
Because the assessment process aids the helping professional in providing the client with
services designed to be effective and culturally appropriate, it makes sense to add a spiritual
element to the assessment as spirituality plays a vital role for many clients seeking services. The
article includes research that indicates that spirituality has been found to be a key strength for
many clients. The rationale for implementing a spiritual assessment in practice is to identify a
spiritual assets that can be operationalized in treatment and discharge planning (Hodge, 2005,
pg. 314). Additionally, the assessment may determine whether or not the professional should
seek further inquiry by use of a more in-depth assessment. Furthermore, when spirituality is a
significant element in the life a client, a thorough assessment should be given. The spiritual
assessment tools discussed in this article were chosen by the author to highlight different facets
of clients spiritual lives (Hodge, 2005, pg. 315).
Very briefly the five assessment methods discussed are Spiritual Histories, Spiritual
Lifemaps, Spiritual Genograms, Spiritual Ecomaps, and Spiritual Ecograms. Spiritual history
assessments are given orally and may be the most common assessment in use. It is similar to
acquiring a family history. There are two sets of questions: the Narrative Framework and the

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Interpretive Anthropological Framework which steer the direction and flow of conversation.
Two strengths for this approach is that it is fairly easy to administer when working with clients
that are verbally oriented and it is beneficial to the development of a therapeutic rapport with the
client. However, this approach can take a good amount of time and some clients may feel
uncomfortable discussing their spirituality as it can be very personal.
Spiritual lifemaps can be utilized in place of the spiritual histories approach as it takes the
focus off the client and provides the client with a more creative way to express how spirituality
has played out in their life journey. With this assessment the professional provides the client
with a large piece of paper and various tools for sketching and drawing in multiple colors.
Hodge (2005) even suggests providing various colors of construction paper and a variety of
magazines. This approach puts the professional in a secondary role during the assessment and is
directed by the client. Additionally, it can be given as a homework assignment. However,
because the professional can feel uninvolved during this assessment, she may feel it is not the
best use of the time allotted for therapy.
Spiritual genograms are similar to the standard genogram and cross three generations of
the clients life. When adding color and geometric symbols, the professional can build a color
snapshot of the overall spiritual composition of the family system (Hodge, 2005, pg. 319).
This assessment tool is particularly useful when the professional discovers that the family is a
large element within the clients life. However it is time consuming and requires the professional
to educate the client while and during conducting the assessment.
Spiritual ecomaps contrast genograms because rather than focusing on past events it
focuses on the here and now. The focus is current relationships the client has as opposed to
historical relationships. This assessment is drawn out on a piece of paper and shows the client

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and their immediate family in the center. Outside and around the client the ecomaps shows
significant spiritual systems (Hodge, 2005, pg. 320). Two key strengths of this assessment are
that it is easy to grasp conceptually and it is quick to construct (Hodge, 2005, pg. 320).
However, due to the focus on the here and now, this approach can also be restricting and result in
a superficial assessment.
Finally, spiritual ecograms combine ecomaps and genograms in one assessment.
Focusing on both the past and present relationship as well as events. One distinctive element of
the ecogram is that is also includes a family history into the spiritual assessment. This results in
a quite inclusive diagram of both past and present resources, connections, relationship, and
events, which is a strength of this assessment. As one might imagine, a weakness is the
complexity and time required to complete the assessment.
Interaction
I was quite excited to read the article as I had hoped it would be much more enlightening
in the application of each assessment. Unfortunately it was quite brief and did not provide the
reader with adequate knowledge to study or implement any of the five assessments discussed.
However, it did provide me with a starting point and I appreciate this greatly as I was not even
aware of any spiritual assessment tools before reading this article.
I am particularly interested in the first assessment discussed because of the simplicity of
it. It only requires asking questions. I like the idea of give the client homework, so this would
give me reason to study more on the spiritual lifemaps assessment. I do not think I would feel
comfortable administering this assessment during valuable therapy time, so I think homework is
appropriate for this assessment. In previous coursework, I have found genograms to be
interesting, but I have not fully grasped the concept yet, so the remaining assessments may be

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troublesome for me without additional study and practice of building these diagrammatic
pictures.
I found it interesting that spirituality is an important coping mechanism for many
individuals. Of 542 hospitalized adults, 40 percent stated that spirituality was the most
important factor that kept them going (Hodge, 2005, pg. 322). Furthermore, the assessments
discussed in the article are only qualitative in nature. It was interesting to discover that there are
also quantitative approaches to spiritual assessment. Hodge (2005) provides readers with
references if interested in researching these approaches, which I plan to do. The author warns
readers to understand that there is no single approach that will fit in every situation and the
professional should adept in the use of multiple assessment methods.
Application
I would like to give a spiritual assessment to a 43-year-old male who is struggling in his
current marriage and blended family situation. The client has a biological son who has been
diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). His wife was born with
Cerebral Palsy and struggles with anxiety. His step son struggles with anxiety and has reported
self-harming. When counseled previously, the approach was taken that he needed to be the
spiritual leader of his home and that because he was not taking his family to church, Satan was
working in the home and in the relationships.
The client seemed almost hostile when discussing this and expressed being offended that
his beliefs, feelings, and how he was raised did not seem important. He seemed to believe that
the beliefs, feelings, and how his wife was raised seemed to be more important to the previous
counselor. As a result, I think I would like to utilize either the spiritual history assessment or the
spiritual ecomap assessment with this client. I hesitate with the spiritual history assessment only

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because spirituality seems to be a sore spot with this client and he may not be willing to discuss
spirituality openly with me. The Initial Narrative Framework question set is designed to help the
client tell their story, but if he is unwilling to open up, it will not be beneficial to move on the
second question set, the Interpretive Anthropological Framework.
Should this not be an appropriate direction to take, I may attempt putting together a
spiritual ecomap. I chose this approach as an alternative because they are quick to construct and
because it focuses on the here and now. It might help him put into perspective the role
spirituality is playing within his own life and the lives of the ones he connected with currently.
Discovering how important his wifes spirituality is to her may not be a direction to go as he
seems to harbor some resentment toward the direction the previous counselor took. This client
poses to be a difficult client as spirituality appears to a source of contention and in listening to
his personal struggles in the home, his relationships with his wife and step son are already
strained.

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2
References

Hodge, D. R. (2005). Developing a spiritual assessment toolbox: A discussion of the strengths

and limitations of five different assessment methods. Health & Social Work, 30(4), 314323.