Evaluation of the first edition of the ‘Spirituality in medicine’ programme implemented for medical students at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Pre- and post-test research

Abstract Background This article presents an evaluation of the first obligatory programme on ‘Spirituality in Medicine’ for medical students in Poland, implemented at the Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruńin in Poland. Methods The main research question was: To what extent did participation in the ‘Spirituality in Medicine’ programme influence the level of competence in spiritual care among the students taking part in the project? To assess spirituality competencies, the study employed the Spiritual Supporter Scale, and evaluation was performed before, during, and after completing the educational programme on spiritual care. Participants: A pre–post single-group intervention design without a control group was employed. 121 participants comprised the medical students of the Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland who participated in the first edition of the ‘Spirituality in Medicine’ module implemented from the second to the fifth year of general education (2018/2019–2021/2022) (250). Results The program was associated with modest changes in select subdomains of the SpSup scale, while other domains showed insignificant changes or declines. The results of the Friedman ANOVA test shows the statistically significant changes in the two subscales: spirituality in relation to one’s own suffering and that of others (χ2 = 7.47; p < 0.05), and the recognition of spiritual suffering (χ2 = 8.89; p < 0.05), however effect sizes in both of subdomains were small. In the third subscale, prayer as support, the level of competence was higher before the training than after its completion (χ2 = 6.09, p < 0.05). In the remaining measurements, an increase in results was observed in the second measurement, but these differences are not statistically significant. The results of this statistics showed that the only statistically significant difference occurred in the factor of community treated as a support system in the pair of measurements before and during education ( p < 0.05), however the size effect was small. The other measurements, related to beliefs about spirituality and community as support in the during-after measurement, proved to be statistically insignificant. Conclusion The introduction of the ‘Spirituality in Medicine’ programme in the general education curriculum for medical students has an impact on the level of competencies in the areas of spirituality in relation to one’s own suffering and that of others and in the field of recognition of spiritual suffering in a pre-post-test study and in the contrast method in the field of community treated as a support system in the pair of measurements before and during education. Results show, that the programme has to be corrected and evaluated, particularly in terms of improving the quality of the content offered and self-reflection.