Incorporating and Teaching Spirituality into Medical Education: An Overview of the Field and Possible Educational Strategies

Abstract

Resulting from the increasing scientific evidence on the correlations between spirituality and health (S/H), important institutions such as the World Health Organization, American College of Physicians and Association of American Medical Colleges have already formally recommended the approach of spirituality in clinical practice. In addition, most US and UK medical schools have already included S/H contents in their curriculum, students and medical teachers believe this issue is important to clinical practice and there are several studies showing promising results on the incorporation of S/H courses or strategies to medical students. This chapter will provide a brief panorama on the S/H field, aiming to bring an update overview of the development of the field, the current scientific evidence, the most common educational strategies and initiatives used, the S/H curriculum goals, objectives and general competences. Future challenges of this field are to create an international consensus including the minimum required competences that a medical student should learn concerning S/H, to increase the number of S/H content worldwide and to provide high-quality and continuing training for teachers and students.