<p>Spirituality is increasingly recognized as an important dimension of holistic healthcare and patient-centered practice. However, prevailing understandings of spirituality and spiritual care largely derive from Western frameworks, which may not adequately capture culturally grounded perspectives in non-Western healthcare settings. Limited research has explored how Filipino health professionals conceptualize spirituality and spiritual care within clinical practice. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach with an interpretative phenomenological orientation using reflexive thematic analysis. Data were drawn from fifteen focus group discussions involving forty-one Filipino health professionals from multiple disciplines and clinical settings in the Philippines, supplemented by selected in-depth interviews with health professions educators. Data were analyzed using iterative coding, thematic synthesis, reflexive interpretation, and a modified Guided AI Thematic Analysis (GAITA) process. Participants understood spirituality as a meaning-oriented, relational, embodied, and deeply human dimension of personhood extending beyond institutional religiosity. Spirituality was associated with connectedness, transcendence, inner life, purpose, suffering, and relationship with God, family, community, and humanity. Although participants distinguished spirituality from religiosity, the two were often experienced as deeply interconnected within Filipino life and healthcare practice. Spiritual care was described not primarily as religious intervention, but as a relational process enacted through listening, presence, empathy, discernment, accompaniment, emotional attunement, and culturally mediated forms of relational engagement. Participants also revealed tensions regarding professional boundaries, emotional exhaustion, and uncertainty regarding the limits of spiritually responsive care. Filipino health professionals conceptualize spirituality and spiritual care as relational, meaning-oriented, embodied, and culturally embedded realities. The findings highlight the importance of culturally grounded approaches to spiritual care and suggest the need for educational frameworks that cultivate relational presence, ethical discernment, reflective self-awareness, and culturally responsive care practices within Philippine health professions education.</p>

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

Understanding Spirituality and Spiritual Care in the Philippines: A Culturally Grounded Qualitative Study of Filipino Health Professionals

  • Maria Lourdes Dorothy S. Salvacion

摘要

Spirituality is increasingly recognized as an important dimension of holistic healthcare and patient-centered practice. However, prevailing understandings of spirituality and spiritual care largely derive from Western frameworks, which may not adequately capture culturally grounded perspectives in non-Western healthcare settings. Limited research has explored how Filipino health professionals conceptualize spirituality and spiritual care within clinical practice. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach with an interpretative phenomenological orientation using reflexive thematic analysis. Data were drawn from fifteen focus group discussions involving forty-one Filipino health professionals from multiple disciplines and clinical settings in the Philippines, supplemented by selected in-depth interviews with health professions educators. Data were analyzed using iterative coding, thematic synthesis, reflexive interpretation, and a modified Guided AI Thematic Analysis (GAITA) process. Participants understood spirituality as a meaning-oriented, relational, embodied, and deeply human dimension of personhood extending beyond institutional religiosity. Spirituality was associated with connectedness, transcendence, inner life, purpose, suffering, and relationship with God, family, community, and humanity. Although participants distinguished spirituality from religiosity, the two were often experienced as deeply interconnected within Filipino life and healthcare practice. Spiritual care was described not primarily as religious intervention, but as a relational process enacted through listening, presence, empathy, discernment, accompaniment, emotional attunement, and culturally mediated forms of relational engagement. Participants also revealed tensions regarding professional boundaries, emotional exhaustion, and uncertainty regarding the limits of spiritually responsive care. Filipino health professionals conceptualize spirituality and spiritual care as relational, meaning-oriented, embodied, and culturally embedded realities. The findings highlight the importance of culturally grounded approaches to spiritual care and suggest the need for educational frameworks that cultivate relational presence, ethical discernment, reflective self-awareness, and culturally responsive care practices within Philippine health professions education.