From spiritual intelligence to spiritual care: A transformative approach to holistic practice

Nurse Educ Pract. 2020 Aug:47:102823. doi: 10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102823. Epub 2020 Jun 20.

Abstract

Spiritual care has long been known for being as important as difficult to deliver. Many barriers to spiritual care practice have been reported but are still difficult to overcome. Yet, the answer may not be centred in the patient needs but in the healthcare provider' spiritual self-awareness and self-consciousness. The debate is then opened on what concepts should really be addressed: spiritual care or spiritual intelligence and which should be trained since spiritual intelligence enhancement can bring many other benefits beyond increased quality of care, such as self-growing tools to better cope with the hardiness of the profession. This paper introduces the debate around this issue, and opens the discussion to different perspectives and approaches to a troublesome educational subject.

Keywords: Education; Spiritual care; Spiritual intelligence; Spirituality.

MeSH terms

  • Education, Nursing
  • Holistic Health* / education
  • Humans
  • Intelligence*
  • Spirituality*