Pharmacy students' perceived barriers to spiritual care: A qualitative study

Abstract

Background: Spiritual care (SC) is an important component of whole person care, a goal that many pharmacists embrace. Knowledge about barriers to incorporating SC in pharmacy practice may allow understanding of how to increase its provision. Objectives: The objective of the study was to investigate pharmacy students' perceived personal and professional barriers to incorporating SC in pharmacy practice. Methods: Second-year pharmacy students (n = 62) who attended a required class lecture on SC in healthcare responded to three open-ended questions that explored beliefs about SC in pharmacy practice. Students' responses were thematically analyzed using NVivo. Results: Most (68%) of the students were female; 34% were Asian American. Students identified the following barriers to incorporating SC: limited or lack of time for SC, lack of supervisor and company support for SC, discordant pharmacist-patient spiritual beliefs, discomfort with talking about spirituality, lack of knowledge about spirituality and SC, personal factors, patient refusal of SC, fear of offending patients by discussing spirituality, and pharmacy environment. Conclusion: Major barriers to SC include lack of time for SC, lack of supervisor and company support for SC, and discordant pharmacist-patient spiritual beliefs. Future studies should be conducted to investigate these and other barriers to SC in pharmacy practice.