Teaching Spirituality: the perspective of the students of a health public university

Spirituality is a complex and multidimensional part of the human experience, with each person's inherent basis of the meaning and purpose of life, found in all cultures. The consideration of the human being in an integral way, represents an important aspect of health professionals training. The recognition of the importance of spirituality in health has grown, but little is taught or applied for professional practice. The vast majority of undergraduate and graduate courses do not develop content related to spirituality in their curricula. The aim of this study was to investigate the understanding of students at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, regarding to the theme spirituality in education and health, through the analysis of the presence or absence of the theme in the academic curriculum and how they assess the relevance of the theme. This is a cross-sectional study with the population of undergraduate and graduate students at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre. The collection took place from October 2016 to November 2019, using questionnaires in printed format. A total of 632 students answered the questionnaire, and 65.7% of whom believe that it is pertinent to address aspects related to "spirituality" in academic training. It is concluded that students from different courses and grades recognize the relevance of the study of spirituality in health, however, the lack of this content during academic training results in ignorance and insecurity to approach the topic with patients.