The ‘Thought Model’ of Spirituality to Solve Conflicts in Training and Education of Spiritual Health in Modern Public Healthcare Systems

Mahesh Bhatt
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Mahesh Bhatt: Surgeon and Public Health Consultant, MD MMBSHS Trust, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

International Journal of Health and Medical Sciences, 2019, vol. 5, issue 1, 29-34

Abstract: The Spiritual Dimension was added to the definition of health after historic resolution WHA37 in 1984 by WHO, making the Spiritual Dimension important for the strategies for health. Multiple scientific studies have clear evidence of the importance of spiritual dimension in all domains of public health and healthcare. The spiritual dimension of health is perceived directly in religious contexts, which make it communal, complex, ambiguous, and its ill-defined boundaries with religions make it misfit for modern scientific healthcare systems. It resulted in a neglected approach in training and application by health professionals and policymakers, leading to poor research, education, and clinical use of spiritual health, which has a strong influence on the organized efforts and choices of individuals and communities in preventive, promotive, and curative health. To solve these problems in the training and education of healthcare professionals by decreasing the complexities and ambiguities in defining spirituality. We analyzed the human thought process in a life-threatening situation, and based on our observations we proposed the ‘Thought Model’ of spirituality to free it from the religious bounding with a scientific approach and make it less ambiguous for public health applications based on the evolution of human thought processes. In clinical settings of modern healthcare, this ‘thought model’ of defining and understanding spirituality provides its scientific compatibility by decreasing the conflicting religious beliefs, which are common in healthcare delivery systems to almost nil by navigating the conflicting religious, cultural, and scientific thoughts.

Keywords: Spirituality; spiritual dimension of health; spiritual health; spiritual dimension; healthcare training; healthcare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:apa:ijhmss:2019:p:29-34

DOI: 10.20469/ijhms.5.30004-1

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