Designing and Developing Educational Objectives for Spiritual Health of Family Physicians: A Qualitative Study

Background: The spiritual dimension, one of the four aspects of holistic care, becomes even more crucial during critical times and illness. As family physicians need to support the enhancement of their patients’ spiritual health, the development of a comprehensive curriculum for training family physicians in spiritual health could be beneficial. This study aimed to design and develop educational objectives for spiritual health tailored for family physicians using an educational design model, considering four key factors. Methods: A qualitative content analysis was conducted in this study to explore the perceptions of experts, graduates, and family medicine residents regarding the needs and capabilities related to spiritual health education. A total of 20 family medicine residents, specialists, and experts in spiritual health were selected using purposive sampling. After data collection through interviews, the data were analyzed qualitatively using conventional content analysis. Then, educational objectives for spiritual health were developed based on the identified needs and capabilities, with consensus from specialists. Results: To identify educational needs, 29 subcategories were extracted from the coded data. Categories with similar meanings were combined, resulting in four primary themes: spiritual knowledge, spiritual attitudes, spiritual skills, and spiritual personality. Ultimately, specialists agreed on the educational objectives for spiritual health, resulting in 9 general objectives and 39 behavioral objectives. Conclusion: Based on the identified educational needs, both general and specific behavioral objectives for spiritual health were established. Considering the comprehensive, holistic, and culturally relevant nature of family medicine, as well as the differences in the context of the Islamic-Iranian culture, these educational objectives were developed in a specialized and practical manner for family physicians, with an emphasis on enhancing the spiritual health of both service providers and recipients.