European journal of medical research
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For many patients confronted with chronic diseases, spirituality/religiosity is a relevant resource to cope. While most studies on patients' spiritual needs refer to the care of patients at the end of life, our intention was to develop an instrument to measure spiritual, existential and psychosocial need of patients with chronic diseases. ⋯ The preliminary results indicate that spiritual needs are conceptually different from life satisfaction, and can be interpreted as the patients' longing for spiritual well-being. Methods how health care professionals may meet their patients' spiritual needs remain to be explored.