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Abstract

Background
Spirituality and religion play an important role in many people’s lives. While healthcare professionals support people from a diverse range of backgrounds, cultures and belief systems, these dimensions are often missing from assessments and care plans. Using the lens of nursing and midwifery students and academic teaching staff, this study sought to explore how the concepts of spirituality and religion could be better incorporated into nursing and midwifery teaching programmes, while acting as a possible conduit for exploring the richness of diversity and inclusion.

Methods
An explanatory sequential multi-methods study, to include an online survey (n = 114 responses) and focus groups (n = 11 participants). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Integration of the quantitative and qualitative data was achieved through a pillar integration process.

Results
The concept of spirituality was viewed as predominately positive, something personal to individuals and linked to how people make sense of their place in the world. Religion was seen as a connectedness to a community with common beliefs and a shared identity. However, the rules and regulations associated with religion, were perceived by some respondents as leading to intolerance and the exclusion of others. Overall, participants believed that greater awareness of spirituality and religion could help people to be more aware and to be more welcoming of diversity leading to greater inclusion. Participants believed that these concepts should be included in teaching programmes and integrated with clinical practice.

Conclusions
Students and clinical practitioners should be encouraged to increase their knowledge and awareness towards spiritual and religious issues. This awareness may begin with students and clinical practitioners reflecting on their own beliefs and values enabling them to be more sensitive to and respond to the beliefs and values of others. Insights gained by this study may be valuable to healthcare educators and policymakers highlighting the need for greater awareness of spirituality and religion in health and social care training.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Publisher Keywords:	Spirituality, Religion, Culture, Education, Beliefs, Diversity, Inclusion, Nurses, Midwives, Students
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education R Medicine > RT Nursing
Departments:	School of Health & Medical Sciences School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Nursing & Midwifery
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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