Religiosity and spirituality in psychiatry residency programs: why, what, and how to teach?

Abstract

Objective: To propose a core curriculum for religiosity and spirituality (R/S) in clinical practice for psychiatry residency programs based on the available evidence. Methods: After performing a review of studies on the implementation of R/S curricula and identifying the most commonly taught topics and teaching methods, an R/S curriculum was developed based on the most prevalent strategies, as well as recommendations from psychiatric associations, resulting in a fairly comprehensive R/S curriculum that is simple enough to be easily implemented, even where there is a shortage of time and of faculty expertise. Results: The curriculum is a twelve-hour course (six 2-hour sessions). The topics include: concepts and evidence regarding R/S and mental health relationships, taking a spiritual history/case formulation, historical aspects and research, main local R/S traditions, differential diagnosis between spiritual experiences and mental disorders, and R/S integration in the approach to treatment. The teaching methods include: classes, group discussions, studying guidelines, taking spiritual histories, panels, field visits, case presentations, and clinical supervision. The evaluation of residents includes: taking a spiritual history and formulating an R/S case. The program evaluation includes: quantitative and qualitative written feedback. Conclusions: A brief and feasible core R/S curriculum for psychiatry residency programs is proposed; further investigation of the impact of this educational intervention is needed.

Teaching Spiritual and Religious Competencies to Psychiatry Residents: A Scoping and Systematic Review

“…28 As of 2009, Bowman estimated that medical training regarding spirituality in the United States and Canada occurs almost exclusively in 80 psychiatric and 20 primary care residency programs and in just 100 medical schools. 29 Prompted by such deficiencies, medical educators developed guidelines and curricula, such as the 1996 Model Curriculum for Psychiatry Residency Training Programs: Religion and Spirituality in Clinical Practice (hereafter the 1996 Model Curriculum) for training physicians to address patients' S&R. 30,31 Moreover, in 1997, the Templeton Foundation, an organization devoted to advancements at the intersection of science and religion, began awarding seed funding to promote the development of religion-or spirituality-related curricula in U.S. and Canadian medical schools and residency programs. 29,32 Given the increasing institutional, academic, and public awareness of the interface between mental health and S&R, as well as significant funding devoted to curricular development, we believed that the nature and extent of psychiatry residency training had likely evolved significantly over the past 2 decades.…”

“…Prompted by such deficiencies, medical educators developed guidelines and curricula, such as the 1996 Model Curriculum for Psychiatry Residency Training Programs: Religion and Spirituality in Clinical Practice (hereafter the 1996 Model Curriculum) for training physicians to address patients’ S&R. 30,31 Moreover, in 1997, the Templeton Foundation, an organization devoted to advancements at the intersection of science and religion, began awarding seed funding to promote the development of religion- or spirituality-related curricula in U.S. and Canadian medical schools and residency programs. 29,32…”

Espiritualidade na Clínica Psicológica: Contribuições do Pensamento de Viktor Frankl

“…Seus efeitos sobre a saúde física e mental, bem-estar e qualidade de vida tem sido profusamente estudados (Koenig, 2012b;Moreira-Almeida et al, 2014). O acolhimento da dimensão espiritual, incluindo sua intersecção com campo da religiosidade, vem sendo recomendada por diversas associações psiquiátricas Oliveira et al, 2021) e por outras mais, no campo da saúde.…”

Religion, Spirituality, and Ethics in Psychiatric Practice

“…However, it was not until the late 1990s, and especially after the publication of the Model Curriculum for Psychiatric Residency Training Programs: Religion and Spirituality in Clinical Practice , that psychiatry residency programs in the United States began incorporating the role of religion and spirituality into their curricula (Larson et al, 1997). Since then, interest in the interface of religion, spirituality, and psychiatric practice has blossomed and new models of training have been developed and proposed (Awaad et al, 2015; de Oliveira E Oliveira et al, 2021; Puchalski et al, 2001). Although exploring and discussing these training models are beyond the scope of this publication, interested readers are encouraged to view the references included in this section to obtain more information.…”