Native Americans and Brief Spiritual Assessment: Examining and Operationalizing the Joint Commission's Assessment Framework (Report‪)‬

The largest and most prominent health care accrediting organization in the United States is the Joint Commission, formerly known as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or, more commonly, as JCAHO (2009). The interrelationship between the Joint Commission and the field of social work is evidenced by the fact that NASW (2004) maintains a partnership with the Joint Commission. In addition to accrediting most of the nation's hospitals, the Joint Commission also accredits thousands of other organizations providing health and mental health services. At the turn of the century, the Joint Commission revised its accreditation standards to require the administration of a spiritual assessment (Hodge, 2006b). Spiritual assessments are now mandated in numerous settings, including hospitals, home care organizations, long-term care facilities, and behavioral health care organizations providing addiction services. This requirement is consistent with the views of most social work practitioners. Research has repeatedly found that the majority of practitioners affirm the importance of conducting a spiritual assessment in practice settings (Canda & Furman, 1999; Carlson, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, & Killmer, 2002; Heyman, Buchanan, Musgrave, & Menz, 2006; Murdock, 2005; Sheridan, 2004; Sheridan & Amato-von Hemert, 1999; Stewart, Koeske, & Koeske, 2006).