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 , 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 .
