Integration of Spirituality and Whole Person Care into Doctor of Physical Therapy Curricula: A Mixed Methods Study.

A novel whole person care course, emphasizing spirituality in healthcare, was developed for first-year Doctor of Physical Therapy students with interprofessional collaboration between faculty members of the School of Religion and the School of Allied Health physical therapy program. The course was designed to support compassionate, person-centered care, inclusive of spirituality, using the biopsychosocialspiritual framework. The purpose of this study was to explore physical therapy students' perceptions of spiritual care, identify student comfort level in addressing patient spiritual issues, and assess change in perception of the value of addressing spirituality with completion of a required whole person care course. Seventy-two first-year physical therapy students completed a 10-week required course with core course themes of religion and spirituality in healthcare, the practice of spiritual care, utilizing spiritual history tools, the concept of total pain, incorporating spirituality into therapeutic alliance, and developing capacity for empathy and compassion through spiritual practices. Stu¬dents were given pre- and post-course surveys to determine change in perceived importance of spirituality and whole person care in physical therapy. Quantitative results indicated a significant change in student perception from the beginning to completion of the course in all survey questions (p<0.001). Qualitative analysis of student reflections revealed six main themes in the categories of change and value, change in myself, change in future patient care, value of the patient's story, value of my story, value of new knowledge, and value of supportive classroom climate. Additionally, themes of personal wholeness, spiritual healing, and the reorientation to the "why" or mission of physical therapy emerged. To our knowledge, this is the first research study to analyze response and change in perceptions of physical therapy students upon completion of a required whole-person care course inclusive of spirituality.