Spirituality and Mental Health in Chronic Care: Advancing Holistic Healthcare Approaches

Dear Colleagues,

The growing burden of chronic illness presents significant challenges for healthcare systems worldwide, requiring approaches that extend beyond biomedical management to address the psychological, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of care. In this Special Issue, spirituality is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct encompassing meaning-making, existential beliefs, connectedness (to self, others, nature, or the transcendent), and value systems that influence health behaviors and well-being. We particularly encourage the contribution of studies that employ validated measurement instruments (e.g., FACIT-Sp, WHOQOL-SRPB, Spiritual Well-Being Scale) or rigorously developed qualitative frameworks grounded in established theoretical traditions. In this context, spirituality and mental health have emerged as essential components of holistic, patient-centered care, influencing coping mechanisms, treatment adherence, quality of life, and overall well-being. Healthcare professionals play a pivotal role in integrating these dimensions into everyday clinical practice. However, the increasing complexity of chronic care, combined with evolving patient needs and healthcare environments, underscores the necessity of systematically exploring and documenting practices that effectively incorporate spirituality and mental health into care delivery.

This Special Issue aims to bring together high-quality original research articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses that examine the intersection of spirituality, mental health, and chronic care within contemporary healthcare systems. Emphasis will be placed on generating methodologically robust and clinically relevant evidence, particularly within primary care and community-based settings, where the long-term management of chronic conditions predominantly occurs. The Special Issue seeks to advance understanding of how well-defined and systematically integrated holistic approaches can improve patient outcomes, enhance quality of life, and support the delivery of compassionate, person-centered care.

We particularly welcome submissions that address the following:

• The role of spirituality in coping, resilience, and quality of life among patients with chronic conditions in community and primary care settings;
• Mental health challenges associated with chronic illness in the community and evidence-based strategies for early detection and management in primary health care;
• Integration of spiritual care into primary health care services and community-based health systems;
• The role of primary health care professionals (nurses, general practitioners, community health workers) in addressing spiritual and psychological needs of patients with chronic diseases;
• Community-oriented educational and training interventions to enhance competencies in spiritual and mental health care among primary care providers;
• The influence of organizational culture, leadership, and primary care policies on the delivery of holistic, community-based care;
• Interdisciplinary, community-based, and patient-centered approaches in chronic disease management within primary health care systems;
• Ethical considerations in addressing spirituality and mental health in community and primary health care contexts;

We welcome high-quality submissions including:

• Controlled clinical studies, cohort studies, and longitudinal designs;
• Well-designed mixed-methods research with clear integration strategies;
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses adhering to established guidelines (e.g., PRISMA);
• Qualitative studies grounded in rigorous methodologies (e.g., phenomenology, grounded theory).

This Special Issue adopts a multidisciplinary perspective, aiming to critically examine how spiritual and mental health dimensions can be effectively integrated into chronic care. It aims to contribute to the development of evidence-based practices and to inform healthcare policy, education, and clinical decision-making in support of more comprehensive and human-centered healthcare systems.

In this Special Issue, original research articles, reviews, and short communications are welcome.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.

Dr. Evangelos Fradelos
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Primary and Hospital Care is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• spirituality
• mental health
• chronic illness
• holistic care
• quality of life
• patient-centered care
• coping and resilience
• nursing practice
• interdisciplinary care
• healthcare systems