Religiosity/spirituality in the clinical practice: Vicious cicle between demand and lack of training

Abstract

With the growing number of researches on religiousness and spirituality, this article aimed to analyze the perception of health professionals in relation to these themes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the workplace of six professionals using Bardin's Content Analysis, in the qualitative approach. Six categories emerged from the qualitative analyses: 1. Religiousness and Spirituality: fusion of concepts and connection with the transcendent; 2. Spirituality as a facilitator; 3. Demand appears informally; 4. Lack of training; 5. In practice it is different; 6. The theme in academic curricula. The results indicated that professionals observe the relevance of the theme, although it appears only implicitly. As a vicious circle, the absence of adequate training can lead to the lack of insertion of these subjects into academic training courses. Future professionals need to receive training to know how to welcome patients/clients religiousness and spirituality with ethics, seeking health promotion.