Developing the Teaching of Spiritual Care in Nursing (SPIRIT4Care)

The aim of this project is to integrate spiritual care into initial and in-service training for nurses, integrating this important, yet currently underestimated dimension into nurses’ care practice, irrespective of their specialty. Our ambition is for nurses to be aware of the central role of spiritual needs in providing better care for patients. The Covid crisis has highlighted the need for holistic care, acknowledging the impact on mental and social well-being. Spiritual care, often overlooked, plays a crucial role in this, supporting patients through illness. Recognizing its importance, Spirit4Care aims to integrate spiritual care into nursing training across Europe. Short-term goals include self-awareness and interpersonal skills, while long-term objectives focus on reinforcing spiritual care skills and fostering a European network of educators. The consortium will collaborate in the development of several joint activities: – Production of guidelines to develop the train-the-trainers scheme, production of 4 introductory videos on spiritual care – Production of 2 tele-simulations and 1 face-to-face simulation dedicated to spiritual care – Implementation of 8 training weeks for nurse educators – Implementation of 8 students weeks and 1 transnational week – Organisation of a mid-term and closing conference, among other dissemination activities – Systematic review to identify existing teaching activities and strategies in spiritual care education. We envisage the following outcomes: – Development of a transnational training programme on SC dedicated to nurse educators (initial and in-service training) – Creation of replicable and transferable teaching material in open access, translated into 4 languages (English, Polish, French, Portuguese) – Implementation of students weeks – Creation of an EU platform bringing together new developed teaching materials, training guidelines and resources – Dissemination of the developed content and teaching materials on spiritual care.