Occupational Therapy Students’ Perceptions of Spirituality in Training

Abstract

Spirituality is recognized as an essential and integral component of a holistic approach in occupational therapy practice. However, little is known about occupational therapy students' perceptions regarding spirituality in learning context. This study used qualitative exploratory, descriptive design to explore the occupational therapy students' perceptions about spirituality in training. Using purposive sampling, four semi-structured interviews were conducted with two students, a lecturer and an occupational therapist. In addition, two focus groups were conducted with students in order to collect data. Data collected were audio-taped; transcribed and thematic analysis was used to identify themes. The analysis resulted in emergence of four themes: "Unique to every individual," "Spirituality in occupational therapy," "To be or not to be taught," and "The Real world." Participants perceived spirituality as an individually experienced. The study contributes to the body of knowledge base of occupational therapy education regarding spirituality. However, there is a need for guidelines to integrate spirituality in occupational therapy training.

A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study of Occupational Therapy Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Occupational Therapy Education

“…Mthembu et al (2014) and Rose (1999) found that spiritual care is unique to every individual with relationship with God, nature and other, which is in good agreement with the results of the present study. However, the participants in the study had low mean value of holistic approach, and as a result, this finding is consistent with other previous studies (Tiew et al 2013b).…”

“…Thus, Wong et al (2008) emphasise the need for holistic education which strive to teach health science students to support patients and nurture their emotional, physiological and spiritual needs. The present findings seem to be consistent with other research which found that spirituality is unique and subjective and people's views are different and not only apply to religion (Egan and Swedersky 2003;Mthembu et al 2014). This finding is in agreement with Koenig's (2002) commentary that spiritual needs are defined broadly regarding both religious and non-religious needs.…”

Family caregivers' perceptions and experiences regarding caring for older adults with chronic diseases

“…Accordingly, the family caregivers' religion was perceived as an enabler for enhancing their quality of life and ability to cope with the demands of their caregiver role. The current findings concur with those of previous studies which reported that prayer seemed to be a facilitator for communication with God to assist the growth of good attributes such as patience, compassion, strength and love as well as to sustain their internal healing and acceptance of their challenges 29,30,31,32 . This was perhaps related to the fact that the caregivers were grounded in Christian and Muslim religions which assisted them to have resilience, to persevere and to find meaning within their responsibilities.…”

An exploratory factor analysis into the applicability of the Spirituality Care-Giving Scale, the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale and the Spirituality in Occupational Therapy Scale to the South African context

“…The factor loadings in this factor seemed to address important issues such as spirituality as a client factor, therapeutic goals, personal identity, human experience, quality of life and education. Additionally, this factor supports previous studies that reported that spirituality is unique to every individual 8,21 . The current findings add to a growing body of literature on spirituality and the OTPF.…”

“…Several studies have highlighted that spirituality and spiritual care both play a significant role in clients' occupational performance and engagement, health, quality of life and well-being [7][8][9] . Numerous studies conducted with Canadian and American occupational therapists identified difficulties in addressing spirituality in occupational therapy practice 10,11 .…”