Spirituality in Health Care Organizations

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C H A P T E R F I V E
Spirituality in Health Care Organizations
Peter C. Olden
Introduction
Spirituality has become part of business and many business organizations, 
and this development includes American health care and health care 
organizations (HCOs). At the industry level, health care is including 
more spirituality because the biomedical scientific model has loosened 
to accept more nonmedical humanistic values and practices. This has 
occurred because many patients want spirituality in health care, and 
research has supported its effectiveness. The Institute for the Future1 
reported that spiritual factors promote health, recovery from illness, and 
general well-being, noting “the consistency and robustness of studies 
involving the role of spirituality in health care.” Human dramas and 
events occur in HCOs and raise deeply spiritual questions about birth, 
life, suffering, renewal, and death.2 Integrating spirituality in HCOs 
has sometimes fundamentally affected an organization’s mission, goals, 
products/services, structure, jobs, production processes, culture, and 
performance measures. Perhaps more than in most businesses, these 
organizational features and elements change when a health care business 
decides to embrace spirituality.
This chapter explains spirituality in health care and HCOs that pro-
vide spiritual health care. The focus is on American health care; it is 
understood that other countries and their HCOs consider spirituality 
in their own ways with similarities and differences. The chapter next 
defines spirituality for health care and then reports on some of the 
J. Biberman et al. (eds.), Spirituality in Business
© Jerry Biberman and Len Tischler 2008
Peter Olden74
relevant literature. A brief history of this topic is presented, followed 
by current practices of spirituality in health care and HCOs. Suggested 
future directions conclude the chapter. This chapter is important for 
health care practitioners, scholars, and patients because spirituality is 
bringing about changes in American health care, how it is provided, 
and how HCOs are managed and designed.
What Is Spirituality?
Spirituality is difficult to define, perhaps because it is so personal and 
individual. Roots of the word refer to breath and inspiration; Wilt and 
Smucker,3 who draw on centuries of debate and discussion, define it as 
“recognition or experience of a dimension of life that is invisible, and 
both within us yet beyond our material world, providing a sense of 
connectedness and interrelatedness with the universe.” One of many 
other definitions is, “what it is to be human, to search for a sense of 
meaning, purpose, and moral guidance for relating with self, others, 
and ultimate reality.”4 Spirituality is a philosophy of one’s life and val-
ues that comes from culture, education, and personal experience; it can 
be unifying and bring meaning to one’s life and is the essence of who 
someone is.5 Spirituality may be further understood by identifying its 
domains, which could include experiences, functions, development, 
content, and expressions of spirituality.6 After reviewing spirituality 
literature, Young and Koopsen7 listed these interrelated key elements 
of spirituality in health care as follows:
● Relationships of oneself, other people, and a higher power or 
 unifying force (perhaps a religious God, life principle, nature, 
music, art, or source of comfort).
● Meaning or purpose in life, based on searching.
● Hope, based on possibilities and powers beyond oneself and the 
present.
● Connectedness and harmony with other people, one’s God, nature, 
environment, or universe.
● Beliefs, based on feelings of faith and confidence in something.
● Expressions of spirituality through activities, rituals, hobbies, 
ref lections.
Spirituality is generally viewed as a broader concept than religion 
and thus can be intrinsic in everyone. “Spirituality implies an inner