A New Evidence-Based Spirituality Framework for Mental Health Practitioners: A Concept Analysis and Integrative Review

This paper presents a new evidence-based spirituality framework aimed to assist counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals to effectively integrate spirituality into their clinical practice, thereby improving the mental health outcomes of their clients, reducing their own excessive workloads during the current global mental health crisis, and leading to better client care within. Using an integrative literature review of the relevant empirical and theoretical findings, and taking a scientist-practitioner stance and an applied clinical perspective, the paper legitimizes the science of spirituality and its benefits for mental health. Based on a concept analysis of the literature, findings yielded a holistic and evidence-based conceptual framework comprising the attributes, antecedents, practices, mental health-related outcomes, corresponding mechanisms of action, and potential harms of spirituality. In doing so, the paper responds to calls in the literature to effectively integrate spirituality into clinical practice; for more nuanced research on the role of spirituality in mental health; for the development of holistic, person-centered, evidence-based spiritual therapies to improve client outcomes and reduce clinician burnout; for the teaching of spiritual competencies in mental health graduate training programs; and for more training of practitioners.