Abstract
Medical schools are charged to deliver a curriculum on religion and spirituality (R/S), so a novel experiential course, the Sacred Sites of Houston, was developed. Sixty students completed the course consisting of 6 site visits. Post-course, participants described more general knowledge and knowledge of how each faith tradition describes medicine and health (p < 0.05 for all) except for Catholicism (p = 0.564 and p = 0.058). Ten course participants and 6 control non-course participants were interviewed following clinical rotations to assess the impact of the experiential course on R/S in the clinical setting. Themes from qualitative interviews such as R/S, barriers, interactions, and the course impact emerged. The importance of R/S in the patient–provider relationship and end-of-life care was prominent in course participant interviews compared to non-course participant control subjects. Participation in the course resulted in increased chaplain engagement and significant personal impact. These qualitative and quantitative findings indicate that an experiential course may be effective at addressing the deficit in R/S undergraduate medical education and help enhance the spiritually and religiously competent care of patients.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the University of Texas Kenneth I. Shine, MD, Academy of Health Science Education, for academic and financial support of this project. The authors would also like to thank Pedro Mancias, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, for the original idea of this project, Nathan Carlin, PhD, the Samuel E. Karff, DHL, Chair of the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, for his full institutional support and countless hours of advising and mentorship, Dr. John Graham, President of the Institute for Spirituality and Health, and our community faith partners of the Greater Houston Area.
Funding
This work was partially funded by the University of Texas Kenneth I. Shine Academy of Health Science Education Small Grants Program (FY2018).
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NK contributed to the acquisition, interpretation, and substantial drafting of the manuscript. SN contributed to conception, acquisition, interpretation, and drafting of the manuscript. SJ contributed to the acquisition and interpretation of the data. MC contributed to data collection and interpretation. BW contributed to data collection and interpretation. PH contributed to data collection and interpretation. LL contributed to conception, acquisition, interpretation, and drafting of the manuscript. All authors worked to revise the manuscript, approve of its submission, and affirm that the above statements regarding ethical approval, funding, and other disclosures are correct.
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King, N., Nelson, S., Joseph, S. et al. The Sacred Sites of Houston: A Novel Experiential Course for Undergraduate Medical Education on Religion and Spirituality. J Relig Health 60, 4500–4520 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01325-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01325-3