Objectives: The objective of this research was to explore how spirituality is currently understood and taught in New Zealand Medical Schools. Methods: A mixed methods study was carried out involving interviews (n = 14) and a survey (n = 73). The first stage of the study involved recorded semi-structured interviews of people involved in curriculum development from the Dunedin School of Medicine (n = 14); which then informed a cross-sectional self-reported electronic survey (n = 73). Results: The results indicate that spirituality is regarded by many involved in medical education in New Zealand as an important part of healthcare that may be taught in medical schools, but also that there is little consensus among this group as to what the topic is about. Significance of results: These findings provide a basis for further discussion about including spirituality in medical curricula, and in particular indicate a need to develop a shared understanding of what 'spirituality' means and how it can be taught appropriately. As a highly secular country, these New Zealand findings are significant for medical education in other secular Western countries. Addressing spirituality with patients has been shown to positively impact a range of health outcomes, but how spirituality is taught in medical schools is still developing across the globe.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 January 2016.
All research outputs
#28,747,540
of 34,518,147 outputs
Outputs from Palliative & Supportive Care
#920
of 1,159 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#210,478
of 261,867 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Palliative & Supportive Care
#20
of 29 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,518,147 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 9th percentile – i.e., 9% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,159 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.1. This one is in the 7th percentile – i.e., 7% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 261,867 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 9th percentile – i.e., 9% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 29 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 27th percentile – i.e., 27% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
