ABSTRACT
Caregiving includes an empathic quest for understanding how an individual is experiencing life. This chapter provides some examples that show that patients have a spiritual need to make choices about what they talk about and to whom, when hospitalized. Sometimes they want to talk about their health, their relationships, their feelings, and their perceptions of their future. Sometimes they just wish to have a chatty visit and not go deeply into any one thing. Patients have a need to identify specific services needed and to have these services met. Some of the services desired are based on common needs to talk about spiritual practices and barriers to spiritual development as well as theological matters and issues regarding the patient’s relationship to God or other higher power. In some cases, patients expressed their own thoughts and feelings and tried to find some resolution, comfort, or change as a result of their conversation with the chaplain.
