The effectiveness of spiritual care training on medical students' self-reported competencies: A quasi-experimental study

• Published in: Palliative & supportive care 2024-04, Vol.22 (2), p.251-257
• Main Authors: Vitorino, Luciano Magalhães, Machado Teixeira, Pedro Henrique, Dominato, Patricia Cabrelon, de Azevedo, Maria Paula Cunha, Resende, Mariana Maciel, Lucchetti, Giancarlo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1478-9515; 1478-9523; 1478-9523
• DOI: 10.1017/S1478951523000408

To evaluate the effectiveness of spiritual care training on medical students' self-reported competencies. This is a quasi-experimental (controlled and non-randomized) study including 115 Brazilian medical students. Participants were enrolled into 2 groups: fourth-year students (  = 64) who received spiritual care training and sixth-year students (  = 51) who did not receive this training - control group (i.e., usual teaching). Participants answered a self-reported Spiritual Care Competence Scale. Comparisons between groups were performed and effect sizes were reported. Providing a spiritual care training resulted in significantly higher self-reported scores for the dimensions of "Assessment" (  = 0.99), "Improvement of care" (  = 0.69), "Counseling (  = 0.88)," "Referral" (  = 0.75), and "Total Spiritual Care" (  = 1.044) as compared to the control group. Likewise, 21 out of 27 items of the Spiritual Care Competence Scale were significantly higher for the intervention group, presenting effect sizes ( ) ranging between 0.428 and 1.032. Medical students receiving spiritual care training showed greater self-reported competencies as compared to those in the usual teaching. These results reinforce the importance of promoting spirituality teaching in medical schools.