Efficacy of an educational intervention on students' attitudes regarding spirituality in healthcare: a cohort study in the USA

Smothers, Zachary; Tu, Jennifer; Grochowski, Colleen OʼConnor; Koenig, Harold G.

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026358

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The course has therefore allowed students to discover the importance of the funeral rite and spirituality, allowing some to reconnect and explore their inner dimension regardless of their attitude toward religion (9). Other studies in literature have indeed highlighted how essential healthcare students believe receiving proper training also concerning spiritual aspects in patients' care is, and on the contrary the current lack of information and reflection upon these themes in healthcare University courses (40)(41)(42).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychology Students' Perceptions of COVID-19 in a Death Education Course

Testoni

Iacona

Corso

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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The systematic removal of death from social life in the West has exposed people living in areas affected by COVID-19 to the risk of being unable to adequately manage the anxiety caused by mortality salience. Death education is a type of intervention that helps people manage their fear of death by offering them effective strategies to deal with loss and anxiety. To that end, a path of death education has been carried out with University students of psychology. The main purpose of the research is to understand how students who participated in the death education course perceive the lockdown experience in light of course teachings. The research was carried out at a University in northern Italy in an area severely affected by COVID-19, during the first year of the pandemic. The group of participants included 38 students, 30 women and 8 men, with an average age of 25.45 years (SD = 7). At the end of the course, the students could respond on an optional basis to the request to comment on the training experience according to what they experienced during the pandemic. A thematic analysis was subsequently carried out on the texts, which made it possible to identify the most relevant thematic areas for the students. The qualitative analyses permitted recognition of three main forms of discovery: the removal of death in contemporary culture; the importance of community, ritual and funeral, and spirituality; and the significance of death education for future health professionals. The texts have highlighted how the removal of these issues exposes people to the risk of being unable to handle extremely painful events such as those related to dying. The results show the positivity of death education pathways conducted at the University level to help students reflect on these issues and manage the related anguish.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychology Students' Perceptions of COVID-19 in a Death Education Course

Testoni

Iacona

Corso

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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“…23 Likewise, integrating spiritual care training for medical trainees (both medical students and residents) has boosted confidence in engaging on these issues with patients. [24][25][26][27] Many physicians felt limited by time, and prioritized biomedical needs of patients over religious and spiritual needs. One exception involved a physician who recalled taking daily spiritual rounds with his chaplain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to Addressing the Spiritual and Religious Needs of Patients and Families in the Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Study of Critical Care Physicians

Alch

Wright

Collier

et al. 2020

Am J Hosp Palliat Care

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Objectives: Though critical care physicians feel responsible to address spiritual and religious needs with patients and families, and feel comfortable in doing so, they rarely address these needs in practice. We seek to explore this discrepancy through a qualitative interview process among physicians in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: A qualitative research design was constructed using semi-structured interviews among 11 volunteer critical care physicians at a single institution in the Midwest. The physicians discussed barriers to addressing spiritual and religious needs in the ICU. A code book of themes was created and developed through a regular and iterative process involving 4 investigators. Data saturation was reached as no new themes emerged. Results: Physicians reported feeling uncomfortable in addressing the spiritual needs of patients with different religious views. Physicians reported time limitations, and prioritized biomedical needs over spiritual needs. Many physicians delegate these conversations to more experienced spiritual care providers. Physicians cited uncertainty into how to access spiritual care services when they were desired. Additionally, physicians reported a lack of reminders to meet these needs, mentioning frequently the ICU bundle as one example. Conclusions: Barriers were identified among critical care physicians as to why spiritual and religious needs are rarely addressed. This may help inform institutions on how to better meet these needs in practice.

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“…Based on our data, we estimate that the medical schools of our survey provide an average of 4 hrs during the whole course. A recent US-American study33 reports that 150 mins during the whole UME course (60 mins lecture focusing on religion/spirituality in health care, followed by a 90-min case discussion in a small group setting) may improve the students’ attitudes and competencies in this field.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

<p>A Survey on the Integration of Spiritual Care in Medical Schools from the German-Speaking Faculties</p>

Taverna¹,

Berberat²,

Sattel³

et al. 2019

AMEP

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ObjectiveTeaching about spirituality and health is recommended by the American Association of Medical Colleges and partially implemented in some US medical schools as well as in some faculties of other countries. We systematically surveyed Medical School Associate Deans for Student Affairs (ADSAs) in three German-speaking countries, assessing both projects on and attitudes towards Spiritual Care (SC) and the extent to which it is addressed in undergraduate (UME), graduate (GME), and continuing (CME) medical education (in this article, UME is understood as the complete basic medical education equivalent to college and Medical School. GME refers to the time of residency).MethodsWe executed a cross-sectional qualitative complete online-survey, addressing ADSAs of all accredited 46 medical schools in these countries. Anonymized responses could be analyzed from 25 (54.3%).ResultsNo faculty provides a mandatory course exclusively dedicated to SC. Fourteen medical schools have UME courses or contents on SC, and 9 incorporate SC in mandatory classes addressing other topics. While most of the respondents indicate that spirituality is important for (a) the patients for coping and (b) for health care in general and thus, support the teaching of SC in UME, only half of them indicate a need for an SC curriculum in UME. Even if funding and training support were available, only a few of the respondents would agree to provide more of the sparse curricular time.ConclusionA majority of the participating medical schools have curricular content on SC, predominantly in UME. However, most of the content is based on voluntary courses. Despite acknowledging its importance to patients, ADSAs and medical teachers are still reflecting on the divergences in patients’ and doctors’ spiritual orientations and its consequences for implementing spirituality into the medical education.

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Efficacy of an educational intervention on students' attitudes regarding spirituality in healthcare: a cohort study in the USA

Cited by 14 publications

References 41 publications

Psychology Students' Perceptions of COVID-19 in a Death Education Course

Psychology Students' Perceptions of COVID-19 in a Death Education Course

Barriers to Addressing the Spiritual and Religious Needs of Patients and Families in the Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Study of Critical Care Physicians

<p>A Survey on the Integration of Spiritual Care in Medical Schools from the German-Speaking Faculties</p>

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