Spirituality Special Interest Group Responses Dr Melanie Rogers

What is the SSIG: Meet bi-monthly to look at education, research and clinical application of Spirituality Has run for 15 years Provided spirituality study days Spirituality teaching across school for pre and post registration, all disciplines Has run a post reg module on spirituality in clinical practice Has run 2 spirituality conferences and 1 research symposium 6 PhD completions

Respondents to template: Nurse Practitioner/Educator Social Worker Psychiatrist Psychotherapist Nurse Researcher Practice Educator Chaplain Nurse Lecturer

Preamble: Both appropriate Preamble comprehensive, achievable and realistic Well constructed and clear, standards comprehensive but will be difficult to achieve in practice Achievable and realistic but slightly vague 2 very impt in helping patients deal with existential issues Preamble needs editing “competency” and “discussion and agreement” Spirituality statement doesn’t make sense Competency statement needs to be in same tense Very clear Good but include reference to ontological issues of becoming and being a nurse 9 standards may be too many

Challenges and opportunities Spirituality often conflated with religion How to talk about spirituality Lack of previous reference points re spirituality Great diversity and awareness needs time How to inform pre reg educators about the meaning Not easy to measure competencies Stablishing therapeutic relationships with patients How to develop self awareness Time pressures, technical demands Fragmented patterns of working Prejudice and misunderstanding that sp is inappropriate Confusion re sp and religion Different ways to integrate into practice Standards are critical for good practice Chance to extend self to relate and connect with others Ontological transformation possible Developing empathy and emotional resilience to actualise professional accountability Chance to develop I/Thou relationships (Buber)

Resources Needed to achieve competencies Use of personal experiences Experiential groups Guest speakers Openness and Creativity Good communicators from faith traditions Training around standards, how to implement Link to local, national and international organisations Link to professional competent in spiritual care Support for educators for how to assess and what if student doesn’t meet competencies Mix of academic and experiential teaching Using service users and patients to speak of their experiences Reflective practice and self awareness tools Time and Emphasis on interpersonal aspects of teaching and nursing Small group work Mentorship

How do you feel competencies will be received Cynical parts says “oh no” Pragmatic part says it round up practice and education nicely We are enabling students to discuss core human issues and big questions There will be an acknowledgment of potential benefits perhaps with feeling of confidence about listening, being available and fostering caring relationship May be concern about not being trained. Collaboration vital Some will struggle with concept but links well to current nursing competencies Some pockets of initial resistance and scepticism but should be high level of support May feel challenged due to cultural diversity, clinical priorities and time management. If presented badly another burden, if well then welcome opportunity to develop neglected person centred care

What resources might educators need Support, encouragement and supervision Education in an overview of diverse cultural and religious views including life/death issues Awareness of others roles re spiritual care Availability of resources to help people respond to spiritual care issues Guest speakers and practitioners who implement the standards in practice Train educators Training on existential therapy, logotherapy, phenomenology and anthropology Education on spiritually competent practice (Wattis, Curran and Rogers)

Final comments Competencies are very real- they capture the essence of what is needed and could apply to all healthcare situations I teach social workers and expect these standards to be met by student social workers I am so pleased to see these standards being introduced