Transforming Unani Tibb: Integrating Spiritual Care Into Clinical Practice Through Consensus

Background and Objectives: Unani Tibb is a holistic medical system incorporating traditional healing practices from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It emphasizes healing the mind, body, and soul; however, spirituality and spiritual care often remain underexplored in practice. There is a recognized need for guidelines on spiritual care within Unani Tibb clinical practice as a vital component for transformation. Methods: A two-phased sequential exploratory research design was used to create guidelines for integrating spirituality and spiritual care into clinical practice. Phase two involved a consensus workshop with Unani Tibb stakeholders from South Africa, informed by the findings of phase one, which included various quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies. Qualitative data from phase two underwent thematic analysis to extract key insights. Results: A diverse panel of 14 registered educators, practitioners, researchers, and experts in Unani Tibb was successfully formed from three provinces in South Africa. This collaborative effort led to the development of 40 comprehensive guidelines to enhance spiritual care within Unani Tibb clinical practice. Conclusion: The consensus workshop recommends that Unani Tibb spiritual care guidelines reflect its foundational philosophy. This includes establishing competencies in spiritual care, facilitating the process of spiritual history-taking, conducting temperament analyses, outlining treatment protocols, implementing a referral system, and promoting ongoing personal and professional development by integrating aspects of spirituality and spiritual care.