"Grasping the Spirit": Factors Associated with Mental Health Rehabilitation Professionals’ Perceived Preparedness to Deal with Spiritual Issues with their Clients

Spirituality has been identified as a core aspect in the rehabilitation and recovery process of many people coping with mental disabilities. Researchers indicate that people with mental disabilities, and the professionals guiding them, find it important to deal with spirituality issues in their meetings. However, many professionals feel insecure about their ability to do so effectively, and thus do not incorporate issues of spirituality in their professional practice with most of their clients.

The perceived preparedness of professionals to intervene in a specific field is a key predictor of the implementation and effectiveness of the said intervention. Therefore, it is important that mental health professionals feel professionally prepared to discuss spiritual issues with their clients during treatment. In light of this, the current study examined factors associated with the perceived preparedness of mental health rehabilitation professionals to discuss spiritual issues with their clients.

This study was based on Amodeo’s Professional Preparedness Model (2000), as expanded by Bina et al. (2019). The model examined the association between professionals’ perceived preparedness to discuss spiritual issues with clients and training (formal and informal) in incorporating spirituality in practice, attitudes towards incorporating spirituality into practice, general self-efficacy, and spiritual well-being. The mediating role of attitudes and general self-efficacy was examined as well. 

In this cross-sectional study, 144 mental health professionals, working in mental health rehabilitation services in Israel, completed a self-report questionnaire. Most of the participants were social workers. Others were from a range of professional backgrounds, including occupational therapists, expressive art-therapists, community mental health workers, psychologists, nurses, psychiatrists, and criminologists.

The findings indicate that most participants perceived themselves as fairly to highly prepared for discussing spiritual issues with their clients, and had positive attitudes towards incorporating spirituality in their practice. Moreover, the findings suggest that attitudes towards incorporating spirituality into practice, spiritual well-being, and informal training were significantly associated with professional preparedness to discuss spiritual issues with clients. Additionally, attitudes mediated the association between informal training and perceived professional preparedness, as well as the association between spiritual well-being and perceived professional preparedness. The results emphasize the contribution of professionals' attitudes toward incorporating spirituality in their practice, as well as the importance of spiritual well-being and training in dealing with spirituality in practice, as predictors of professionals' perceived preparedness.

It is suggested that future studies examining perceived professional preparedness for discussing spiritual issues include participants from a range of religious backgrounds, in order to better represent the study population. Additionally, future studies should examine other independent variables, such as spiritual identity, perception of spirituality, perceived importance of the client's spiritual needs, and self-efficacy in dealing with spiritual issues in practice. It also seems essential that future research consider the association between perceived professional preparedness to discuss spiritual issues and actually discussing them in practice, in order to identify mediating or moderating variables which may better explain this association.

It is recommended that formal and informal training in the field of spirituality in professional practice be incorporated into rehabilitation and recovery training for mental health professionals. Moreover, it seems essential that such training promotes awareness, on the part of professionals, of their own attitudes toward dealing with spirituality in their professional practice. Additionally, it seems important to acknowledge professionals' own spiritual well-being. Finally, the current findings, of fair to high levels on the part of the study participants regarding perceived preparedness and positive attitudes toward discussing spiritual issues and incorporating spirituality in practice (in addition to past findings), may indicate the existence of fertile ground for promoting targeted interventions for people with mental disabilities, with the goal of meeting their spiritual needs.