Barriers to Integration of Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Occupational Therapy Education in a South African context

Abstract

ABSTRACTIntegration of spiritual aspects in teaching and learning is very important for educators and students. The study explored the barriers impeding the integration of spirituality and spiritual care in occupational therapy education in a South African context. An exploratory-descriptive study employing focus group discussions was conducted with purposive sample of 29 occupational therapy students and 9 educators. Thematic analysis was used in this study. Themes emerged from the present study which identified the barriers to spirituality and spiritual care included barriers to teaching spirituality in the classroom; barriers to spirituality in fieldwork practice and barriers to spirituality at personal level.