Spiritual Care Competences among Health Care Professionals in Pakistan: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Survey

Introduction: There is a gap in healthcare literature related to the spiritual competence of physicians and nurses practicing in South Asian Muslim communities. To fill that gap, the Spiritual Care Competence Questionnaire (SCCQ) was applied which was developed to address multi-professional spiritual care competences. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study among 294 health professionals (61% physicians, 17% nurses, and 22% other professions) in 10 hospitals in Punjab, Pakistan. Results: The highest scoring competences were "Dealing with patients/Communication competences", while "Team Spirit" scored lowest. There were no gender related differences, but there were effects related to professions. "Team Spirit", "Dealing with patients/Communication competences", and "Empowerment competences" scored significantly higher in nurses as compared to physicians and other health care professionals, while there were no significant differences for their "Perception/Documentation competences". These competences were not relevantly related to the intensity of their prayer/meditation activity. Conclusions: Health care professional from Punjab were preferred to tolerate the pain and the suffering of patients and their relatives rather than to talk about spiritual care issues. Their spiritual care competences were less developed. Thus, there is a clear need for further specific education and training of health professionals.