Iranian Journal of Medical Education

Introduction: Health services system requires spiritual accountability and should pay attention to this dimension of the clients’ health. Due training is needed to address the issue. The purpose of this study was to identify the educational goals and expected competencies in spiritual health education for medical sciences students based on the educational needs.

Methods: This study was carried out using the expert panel method in three stages: in the first stage, several operating groups reviewed the literature, methods and standards of spiritual health curriculum. In the second stage, the competencies and educational goals were identified based on the experts’ opinions. In the third stage, for finalizing the draft of the program goals, these goals were discussed in a focus group of six experts in spiritual health, education and curriculum using the Delphi technique and ultimately a consensus was achieved on the goals.

Results: Following the analysis of responses and the experts’ consensus, a list of educational competencies and behavioral goals related to teaching spiritual health was prepared. Accordingly, the goals of the curriculum were developed in the form of three educational packages: concepts of spiritual health from the perspective of Islam, the importance of spiritual health and its impact on other health dimensions and spiritual issues in health services provision.

Conclusion: In this study, the expected competencies and specialized behavioral goals were developed according to the educational needs and Blooms’ educational goals model. These can be applied to spiritual health curriculum development for the medical group and integration of spiritual health into medical education.