Standard guides on spiritual care education, student assessment and research can be the starting point for discussing spiritual care competences in healthcare professions.
This was determined by a study undertaken by a group of researchers, among whom was Dr Josephine Attard, Senior Lecturer at the Midwifery Department within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Malta.
The study was conducted in order to develop a consensus-based Spiritual Care Education Standard for undergraduate students to use in their study programmes. Through both qualitative and quantitative methods based on Delphi research, the authors surveyed a sample of 58 participants from 21 European countries.
Data was collected between June 2017 and February 2019 via a number of online surveys and iterative action learning cycles.
The four spiritual care competences, namely intrapersonal spirituality, interpersonal spirituality, spiritual care: assessment and planning, and spiritual care: intervention and evaluation, were explained to each of the participants, and for every competence, learning outcomes were thoroughly described.
It emerged that the Standard would indeed provide a frame of reference for policy making, to assist students in reaching more of their potential, and ultimately for follow-up research.
The full findings, strewn together in a journal titled ‘The Development of a consensus-based spiritual care education standard for undergraduate nursing and midwifery students: An educational mixed methods study’, and published by Wiley, can be found online.