Spirituality and Healthcare
The resources below highlight current work on integrating spirituality into healthcare:
INITIATIVE ON HEALTH, RELIGION, AND SPIRITUALITY
The Initiative aims to be a research catalyst for an integrated model of spirituality, public health and patient care, one that fosters collaboration across Harvard University, and dialogue with spiritual communities. In light of the separation between body and soul within contemporary healthcare, the Initiative upholds stringent scientific and social-scientific methods of analysis, followed by interdisciplinary teams of empirical researchers, scholars, and theologians, based within a line of inquiry that seeks understanding of spirit, mind, and body. The program is oriented around the question:
How may religion and spirituality in concert with public health and the practice of medicine alleviate illness and promote human well-being?
THE GW INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALTH
GWish was established in May 2001 as a leading organization on education and clinical issues related to spirituality and health. Under the direction of Founder and Director Christina M. Puchalski, MD, professor of Medicine, GWish is changing the face of healthcare through innovative programs for physicians and other members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team, including clergy and chaplains. Dr. Puchalski's pioneering work has had a major impact on medical education, professional education, and clinical programs locally, nationally, and internationally.
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY, THEOLOGY, AND HEALTH
The Center was founded in 1998, and is focused on conducting research, training others to conduct research, and promoting scholarly field-building activities related to religion, spirituality, and health. The Center serves as a clearinghouse for information on this topic, and seeks to support and encourage dialogue between researchers, clinicians, theologians, clergy, and others interested in the intersection.
Transforming Chaplaincy, the result of a project initially funded by the John Templeton Foundation, aims to better equip healthcare chaplains to use research to guide, evaluate, and advocate for the daily spiritual care they provide patients, family members and colleagues. Transforming Chaplaincy has become a central, international hub for research-informed chaplaincy with resources for practitioners, educators, and healthcare administrators and other professionals. The institution also sponsors summer workshops to introduce chaplains to research literacy and integrate them into communities of research and research-informed practice. Transforming Chaplaincy also collects resources for chaplains, educators, healthcare administrators, and researchers to support their continued advancement into research-literate chaplaincy.
FROM THE JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
Three articles highlighting the role of spirituality in healthcare from the March 2018 issue:
- Physicians’ Opinions on Engaging Patients’ Religious and Spiritual Concerns: A National Survey
- Physician Decision-Making in the Setting of Advanced Illness: An Examination of Patient Disposition and Physician Religiousness
- Toward a Fully Fledged Integration of Spiritual Care and Medical Care
A Three-Part Special Report from a Conference on the State of the Science of Spirituality and Palliative Care Research
- State of the Science of Spirituality and Palliative Care Research Part I: Definitions, Measurement, and Outcomes (subscription only).
- State of the Science of Spirituality and Palliative Care Research Part II: Screening, Assessment, and Interventions (subscription only).
- State of the Science of Spirituality and Palliative Care Research: Research Landscape and Future Directions (subscription only).