Comparison Education Courses of Spiritual Care in Iran, Canada, America, England, and Europe: A Comparative Review

Spirituality is developing as the fourth dimension of human health. Comparative studies and exploiting the experiences of successful centers and countries are necessary to increase the quality of spiritual care and identify its strengths and weaknesses. The purpose of this study was to compare education courses of spiritual care in Iran, Canada, America, England, and Europe.

The study method was descriptive-comparative. The elements of spiritual care training courses were searched and selected among the sources of Iran, America, England, Canada, and Europe in Google Scholar, PubMed, SID, Magiran, and Science Direct databases. Matching and comparison of data was done using the model of George F. Brady (1969).

Differences in the objectives, target group, and content of spiritual care courses were observed in the 4 investigated regions. Care at the end of life as well as crisis intervention and screening and evaluation were among the most frequent educational keywords. In all countries, training in spiritual interventions for end-of-life and bereavement, description of the condition and initial screening, consideration of the theoretical foundations of spirituality, conflict resolution, and spiritual confrontations are carried out.

Designing a training course based on a native and cultural approach can improve the quality of providing spiritual care services and provide the basis for the creation of a specialized field of spiritual care in hospitals. Promoting the quality of spiritual care in Iran's health care system requires the formulation of a codified executive model and reforms in the objectives, target group, and content of existing courses in Iran.