Assessing Spiritual Needs

George Fitchett offers a good proposal for spiritual assessment. He sets forth the 7x7 model: the first 7 being holistic dimensions (whole person perspective) the second 7 being the spiritual dimension. His spiritual dimension is comprehensive and fairly applicable cross culturally. The only issue I have with his holistic dimension is that it is a linear cause and effect model as opposed to a systems model (which is implied in his usage of "whole person") For example, Fitchett speaks of the effect of the physical/ medical issues on the spiritual, but does not even acknowledge the effects spiritual wounding or pathogenic beliefs might have on the physical body. Therefore his approach is lopsided and inherently imposes a Western worldview. Nonetheless this is an authoritative source on spiritual assessment and an invaluable tool in developing a spiritual assessment. As the reviewer before me asserted it is easily adapted for various settings. Similarly the modern worldview biases can be easily adapted to a more postmodern wholeness approach. Thanks to George Fitchett for his pioneering research and comprehensive 7x7 model.

A very simple and easy introduction to doing spiritual assessment. It is especially geared towards chaplains in clinical settings, but equally usefull for anyone who does spiritual assessment on a regular basis. Fitchett summarizes the previous literature very well, and is well documented. Although his 7X7 system seemed a bit unwieldy for my purposes, I found it highly adaptable. On the downside, the book lacks a bibliography, which is why I gave it only 4 stars.