Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

Teaching Religious and Spiritual Issues 349formats can include offering intermittent inservicetraining to nurses and inpatient personnel(usually best if case-based), ongoing caseconferences, departmental Grand Rounds, filmclubs or journal club discussions, or CME formats.In training programs, brief formats havethe disadvantage of nonsystematic educationbut the advantage of high clinical relevance.Adult students need practical applications forlearning, so case material is essential in lectureformats. Clinical supervision of psychotherapyis ideal for teaching skills and attitudes towardreligion-spirituality, but faculty members withsuch interest and expertise may not be available.Teaching skills can be addressed in faculty developmentor provision of consultation to supervisors.Trainees learn best by doing, second best byobserving, and least from listening to lectures.In teaching a religion-spirituality course topsychiatry residents, it is valuable to includechaplains or chaplain students as co-learners.This author’s experience has been that exposureto clergy desensitizes residents to anxiety aboutinteracting with clergy, increases their respect forchaplains, and has led to more patient consultationrequests from residents to chaplains. Chaplainsoffer clinical viewpoints that enrich courses, andthey themselves benefit from increased psychiatricknowledge. This author’s residents gave highratings to inclusion of chaplains in their religionspiritualitycourse. Chaplains and communityclergy can serve as guest presenters or discussantsin trainee education, especially in sessionson the clergy’s religion.Formats for post-training education caninclude CME lectures, CME courses that includeliterature and case discussions, or ongoing casediscussion/peer supervision groups to developcollegial support. These groups can develop theskills of colleagues who could eventually becomea team of faculty for trainee courses.7.1. Post-Learning Evaluationof Educational EffectivenessEvaluation of educational offerings is helpfulto answer the question of whether teachingreligion-spirituality to trainees is effective inimproving patient care. Evaluation also providesessential feedback to help faculty improve teachingskills and understand how to modify curricula.A sample evaluation form is available in theModel Curriculum for adaptation. (19)8. WHO CAN TEACH RELIGION-SPIRITUALITY TO TRAINEES?Th is topic can be taught by anyone with a passionfor providing this education, with goodclinical skills, experience with religious patients,a willingness to invest time in choosing andteaching a curriculum or single session, and awillingness to bring an even-handed nonsectarianapproach to education. One need not be apublished expert, an accomplished teacher, orresearcher to teach religion-spirituality effectively.Moses succeeded in freeing the Israelitefrom Egypt despite his protestations of being apuny public speaker (Exod. 6:12, 30). (85) Allteachers have to begin their development somewhere.This author began as an inexperiencedjunior faculty member teaching a short coursefor residents.If you are interested in teaching this topic, don’tlet self-doubt stop you. You don’t have to teachalone. Moses and Aaron teamed up with Godto teach Pharaoh (Exod. 5–14). (86) Psychiatristscan gather a multidisciplinary team of clergy,psychologists, nurses, or other clinicians todevelop and teach this topic. An interfaith groupof teachers is ideal to avoid sectarian bias in educationand maximize acceptance of an educationalproposal. Use the array of resources now availablein your area, including the Model Curriculum ,(19)recent books,( 46 , 87 , 88 ) and assessment instruments.(89) Resources are available to teachreligion- spirituality in programs oriented towardpsychoanalysis,(90–92) cognitive-behavioral treatments,(93)and psychobiology. (93) Programs andfaculty in resource-poor situations can use theInternet for educational resources available fromGWISH,(18) the Templeton Foundation,(37) andthe WPA. (22)