Barriers to Provision of Spiritual Care in Mental Health Care Centers: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Spiritual care (SC) is an appropriate source for adaptation and coping with disease and life stressors. Although SC contributes to the quality of life and mental health of clients, there are barriers to the provision of such care.

This study aimed to explore barriers to the provision of SC in mental health care centers from the viewpoints of mental health care provider (MHCP) experts.

This qualitative study was conducted based on conventional content analysis on 19 participants who were selected from different groups of MHCPs. The participants were selected by purposive sampling method from December 2019 to December 2020 in Karaj and Tehran, Iran, by considering the maximum diversity. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with participants during an average time of 60 min per interview until data saturation. The transcripts of the interviews were analyzed by qualitative content analysis.

Barriers to SC were obtained in four categories and 10 subcategories. The categories included “SC concept-related barriers”, “barriers related to MHCPs”, “organizational barriers”, and “barriers related to SC recipients.”

This study demonstrated various barriers to the provision of SC to the clients of health care centers that should be removed to promote the level and quality of SC.