Spiritual Needs of Adolescents with Chronic Diseases

There are several recommendations that assessing childrens’ or adolescents’ spiritual needs is important, while there are no studies available, however, that have systematically assessed adolescents’ spiritual needs with a validated instrument. Therefore, the adolescent version of the SpNQ (SpNQ-Ad) was applied in a group of 200 adolescents with either somatic diseases or psychosomatic/psychiatric conditions that required treatment. Among these adolescents, Attention/Positive Confirmation needs scored highest, followed by Inner Peace needs and Existential/Giving needs, while Religious needs were of lowest relevance. Here, female adolescents had significantly higher Attention/Positive Confirmation needs and Existential/Giving needs than male persons. Religious/Praying needs were predicted best by frequency of private praying and belief in God, while Attention/Positive Confirmation needs were predicted best by affections of daily life through disease-related symptom. Existential/Generativity needs and also Inner Peace needs were predicted best by reflecting on meaning in life. Thus, also adolescents with chronic conditions or long-lasting treatments from a secular society have unmet spiritual needs that are important to them. These have to be care-fully addressed and supported.