Spirituality in the health curricula in Canada: A review

Abstract

Background: The spiritual dimensions of health offer important protective benefits to young people. Yet, little is known about how concern for these is operationalised for youth in school curricula. Objectives: This rapid review examined if, and if so how, the spiritual dimensions of health were being conceptualised in school curricula and, in turn, how the curricula proposed that the spiritual health of young people is best supported. Method: Using National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT) guidelines, we conducted a rapid review of all 10 provincial and 3 territorial physical education and health curricula in Canada. Data included all curriculum documents containing any reference(s) to spiritual/spirituality/religion that were extracted into a master table. Coding and thematic analysis were used to categorise and synthesise the data iteratively. Results: In total, 115 curricula documents were retrieved from the web, of which 67 were included for screening. Analyses revealed how the spiritual dimensions of health are used in curricula overall and provide evidence that while the spiritual dimensions of health offer important protective benefits to Canadian young people, they are often not included in health curricula in Canada, and when they are, they are not always rooted in theory or evidence. Conclusion: Details about how the spiritual dimensions of health are operationalised in the school curriculum remain underdeveloped and vague. Some curricula offer promising ideas about how the spiritual dimensions of health can be used to support child health and well-being. However, educational settings currently provide a missed opportunity to support the spiritual health of young Canadians.