Spiritual Needs of Those with Chronic Diseases

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Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research
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Synonyms

Care, spiritual; Chronic illness and spiritual needs; Existential needs and chronic diseases; Interpretation of illness and spiritual needs; Palliative medicine; Religiosity and chronic diseases; Self-transcendence; Spirituality; Transcendence

Definition

Spiritual needs are those essential requirements, expectations, or purposes related to the non-tangible sacred or the immaterial soul which are expected to contribute to well-being but are not satisfied in a given situation. They may refer to the broad categories: (1) connection, (2) peace, (3) meaning/purpose, and (4) transcendence (Büssing 2021).

Description

In 1943, Abraham Maslow (1943) described an idealized hierarchy of specific human needs: physiological (breathing, nutrition, sleep, etc.), safety (personal and financial security, health, etc.), belongingness/love (friendships, family, intimacy, acceptance, etc.), esteem (self-esteem, confidence, social status, respect, etc.), and self-actualization(creativity, the...

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Correspondence to Arndt Büssing .

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Büssing, A. (2023). Spiritual Needs of Those with Chronic Diseases. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17299-1_3956

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