Re-thinking healthcare: Integrating spirituality into healthcare practices

Re-thinking healthcare:

Integrating spirituality into healthcare practices

A major international conference to be held at the University of Aberdeen today and tomorrow (January 12-13, 2004) will set the agenda for good practice in integrating spirituality into healthcare practices.

Over the past decade, there has been worldwide recognition that spirituality and health are closely related. The conference will bring together an internationally recognised group of practitioners and researchers from medicine, nursing, social science, chaplaincy, alternative medicine and practical theology to explore how spirituality can be incorporated into a healthcare setting.

Professor John Swinton, Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care at the University's School of Divinity, History and Philosophy and conference organiser, said: "Spirituality and healthcare is an area of growing interest at Executive as well as clinical levels within the NHS. The University is currently involved in a variety of research projects within this field, including a major Scottish Executive funded project looking at spirituality in the NHS. This conference will enable us to build on this work and draw together people from across the caring professions to explore the significance of this dimension of healthcare practice."

The conference will also see the launch of a new centre at the University of Aberdeen: The Centre for the Study of Spirituality, Health and Disability. The centre focuses on the relationship between spirituality and health and the significance of the spiritual dimension for the contemporary practice of healthcare.