Spirituality is an essential aspect of a patient's health that can and should be integrated into routine health care. Despite recommendations of accrediting organizations such as the Association of American Medical Colleges, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Association of Professional Chaplains, there is little well defined curriculum focusing on interprofessional spiritual assessment. This article explores one program's use of an interprofessional approach in teaching spiritual assessment to students from medicine, social work, and chaplaincy. Learning objectives were adapted from the Association of American Medical Colleges Medical School Objectives Project. Workshop evaluations show that students can learn key concepts of spirituality and the basics of spiritual assessment while developing an understanding and respect for the role of chaplains, social workers, and physicians.

Infertility is a disease that can cause psychological impairments in women, and the inability to achieve motherhood brings about cultural and social stigma. Spirituality is a protective element that may provide consolation to women experiencing infertility, yet the literature has shown that few clinicians conduct spirituality assessments or provide spiritual care to patients. The objectives of this scholarly project were to conduct an assessment to determine the needs of health care clinicians in regard to spirituality and spiritual patient care and to develop an educational module based on identified knowledge deficits. Guided by the knowledge-to-action cycle, a needs assessment was conducted in a small fertility clinic with 2 clinicians. The results of the assessment showed that the clinicians had not conducted spirituality assessments on their infertile patients and only sometimes provided spiritual care. An educational module and a posttest were developed and then validated by 3 doctorally-prepared nursing faculty members using a self-developed 10-question Likert-type evaluation scale. The materials were found to be clear, accurate, and easy to read by the nursing faculty. An implication of this scholarly project is that it will give clinicians the resources needed to create social change in health care by addressing the spirituality needs of women experiencing infertility. Future research includes a pilot study to implement the educational module with clinicians at the fertility clinic and to evaluate its effectiveness for enhancing spiritual care in practice.

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Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College (Ill.), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-67).

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College (Ill.), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-67).