Developing a Model to Address African Americans' Spiritual Needs During Hospitalization

Research suggests that African Americans are disproportionately likely to have their spiritual needs ignored in hospitals. To help address this disparity, the present study developed and tested a model for addressing the spiritual needs of hospitalized African Americans. Structural equation modeling was used with a sample of older African American inpatients (N = 2,217) consecutively discharged over a 12-month period from hospitals from four geographic regions. As hypothesized, addressing spiritual needs had a positive effect on overall satisfaction with service provision. The relationship between spiritual needs and satisfaction was fully mediated by five variables: nursing, the discharge process, physicians, visitors, and room quality.