BackgroundAccording to recent surveys, 59% of British medical schools and 90% of US medical schools have courses or content on spirituality and health (S/H). There is little research, however, on the teaching of S/H in medical schools in other countries, such as those in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Africa. The present study seeks to investigate the current status of teaching on S/H in Brazilian medical schools.MethodsAll medical schools in Brazil (private and public) were selected for evaluation, were contacted by email and phone, and were administered a questionnaire. The questionnaire, sent by e-mail, asked medical school directors/deans about any S/H courses that were taught, details about those courses, S/H lectures or seminars, importance of teaching this subject for medical school directors, and medical schools characteristics.ResultsA total of 86 out of 180 (47.7%) medical schools responded. Results indicated that 10.4% of Brazilian Medical Schools have a dedicated S/H courses and 40.5% have courses or content on spirituality and health. Only two medical schools have S/H courses that involve hands-on training and three schools have S/H courses that teach how to conduct a spiritual history. The majority of medical directors (54%) believe that S/H is important to teach in their schools.ConclusionFew Brazilian medical schools have courses dealing specifically with S/H and less than half provide some form of teaching on the subject. Unfortunately, there is no standard curriculum on S/H. Nevertheless, the majority of medical directors believe this issue is an important subject that should be taught.

The present study aimed to identify the opinions of nursing students in relation to the interface between health, spirituality and religiosity and the information provided during their undergraduate formation. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 011 (May to October) through interviews on 120 students from a nursing school (82.1%) located at São Paulo State, Brazil. From these, 76% believe that spirituality have an influence on health. However, only 10% consider themselves very prepared to address patients' spiritual aspects and 54% stated that university education does not provide enough information to develop this competence. The fear of imposing religious beliefs is the main barrier related to this issue. Most students (83%) indicated that issues related to health and spirituality should be part of the nursing curricula. Therefore, it's necessary to implement learning scenarios during their academic training to help students in spiritual care.

In conclusion, there are important differences between caregiving across the lifespan. Caregiving for children was associated with more depressive symptoms, and caregiving for older adults was associated with higher caregiver burden. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings in other settings.

These findings could contribute to raise awareness on the importance of improving the training of relational competencies that prepare students to address the dimension of spirituality and religiosity with their patients.

Objetivo: Analisar as relações entre a crença em Deus e a religiosidade no período pré-operatório de cirurgia cardíaca. Método: Estudo exploratório, qualitativo, em que utilizou-se uma entrevista semiestruturada e a análise de Bardin para a extração dos conteúdos. Foram entrevistados 12 pacientes que se apresentavam como crentes em Deus, de qualquer religião e com elevado bem-estar espiritual avaliado previamente por uma escala validada. A questão norteadora da pesquisa foi: há relação entre o seu Deus e o seu adoecimento? Resultado: Os discursos versavam sobre as relações entre Deus, adoecimento e cirurgia cardíaca e o enfretamento da doença e do trâmite cirúrgico. A mazela não foi relacionada veementemente ao castigo divino, mas o conhecimento da progressão da doença cardíaca relacionada a hábitos de vida modificáveis revelou-se ligado a sentimentos de culpa. Conclusão: A crença em Deus repercutiu positivamente no encontro com um novo sentido para o trâmite cirúrgico.