FICA spiritual history assessment tool

FICA spiritual history assessment tool

An instrument to help health care providers learn the extent of a patient's spirituality and how it affect the patient's perceptions of his or her health. FICA is an acronym for faith, importance, community, and address.

Patient care

In using this tool, the health care provider first asks a patient if he or she has religious faith or convictions. Second, under the concept of importance, the health care provider asks how this faith affects the patient's understanding of his or her illness and treatment. Third, under the idea of community, the health care provider asks whether the patient's beliefs are personal or are related to his or her participation in a faith community (a church, synagogue, etc.) and what influence that community has on the patient's health care experiences. Fourth and last, the provider inquires how the patient's experiences of faith should be addressed: how, for example, the provider may assist the patient in using his or her beliefs toward the attainment of satisfaction or cure.