Spiritual Awareness in Healthcare Professions: Enhancing Humanized and Holistic Care

Abstract submission deadline

closed (1 February 2026)

Manuscript submission deadline

31 December 2026

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Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rationale and Scope

In recent years, spiritual awareness has gained increasing recognition as a vital dimension of healthcare, with profound implications for both patient well-being and the emotional resilience of healthcare professionals. Spirituality—conceived not solely in religious terms but as the human search for meaning, connection, and purpose—plays a central role in humanized care and holistic health approaches.

Despite its growing relevance, spirituality remains underrepresented in healthcare education, training, and clinical practice. There is a pressing need to explore how spiritual awareness can be cultivated among healthcare professionals and how it impacts their ability to deliver compassionate, person-centred care.

This Special Issue aims to advance theoretical understanding and empirical knowledge of spiritual awareness in healthcare settings. It seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and contribute to the development of a more compassionate, ethically grounded, and professionally sustainable healthcare system.

Topics of Interest

We invite original research articles, literature reviews, theoretical contributions, and case studies that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The relationship between healthcare professionals’ spiritual awareness and burnout, empathy, resilience, and job satisfaction.
• Spiritual needs of healthcare professionals and strategies to address them.
• Educational and training models for developing spiritual awareness in healthcare professionals.
• The impact of professionals’ spiritual awareness on the delivery of spiritual care in clinical settings.
• Patients’ spiritual needs and healthcare professionals’ responses.
• Barriers and facilitators to integrating spirituality into healthcare practice.
• Cultural and ethical considerations in spiritual care.

Target Audience

This Special Issue is intended for scholars, educators, clinicians, policymakers, and professionals in the fields of nursing, medicine, psychology, pastoral care, and allied health. It aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice, promoting a healthcare culture that is attentive to the inner lives of both caregivers and patients.

Objectives

To explore the meaning and role of spiritual awareness in healthcare.
To investigate how healthcare professionals perceive and integrate own spirituality in practice.
To identify educational models and training interventions that promote spiritual awareness in health professionals
To evaluate the impact of spiritual care on patient outcomes and healthcare professionals’ well-being.
To promote culturally sensitive and ethically sound approaches to spiritual care.

Dr. Federica Dellafiore
Dr. Giovanna Artioli
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Healthcare healthcare	2.7	4.7	2013	22.4 Days	CHF 2700	Submit
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ijerph	-	8.5	2004	29.5 Days	CHF 2500	Submit

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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All Healthcare IJERPH

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24 pages, 673 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Examining Self-Compassion and Self-Leadership as Predictors of Job Satisfaction, Psychological Health, and Turnover Intention in Midwives Across Demographic Factors

by Filiz Okumuş and İmran Aslan

Healthcare 2026, 14(7), 873; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14070873 - 28 Mar 2026

Viewed by 445

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Midwifery workforce sustainability faces critical challenges including high burnout and turnover rates threating the service quality and the maternal health outcomes. While self-leadership and self-compassion represent promising psychological resources, their roles relative to organizational factors remain underexplored. This study examined associations between [...] Read more.

Background/Objectives: Midwifery workforce sustainability faces critical challenges including high burnout and turnover rates threating the service quality and the maternal health outcomes. While self-leadership and self-compassion represent promising psychological resources, their roles relative to organizational factors remain underexplored. This study examined associations between self-leadership, self-compassion, and workforce outcomes (job satisfaction, turnover intention, performance) among Turkish midwives. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 346 midwives working in diverse healthcare settings across Turkey from May 2021 to April 2022. Data were collected through an online self-report questionnaire using validated scales for self-leadership and self-compassion as well as measures of job satisfaction, turnover intention, and job performance, and including demographic and organizational items. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA (with Eta-squared [η²] calculated to determine effect size), and correlation analyses were conducted, followed by hierarchical multiple regression and binary logistic regression to examine predictive relationships, with organizational factors entered before psychological resources. Results: Self-leadership and self-compassion demonstrated a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.342, p < 0.01). Self-leadership strongly predicted job performance (OR = 2.497, p = 0.001), particularly through natural reward strategies emphasizing intrinsic motivation (OR = 1.970, p < 0.001). However, neither psychological resource significantly predicted job satisfaction or turnover intention when organizational factors were included. Work schedule, healthcare setting, professional position, and income emerged as primary predictors of satisfaction and retention. Work experience predicted increased psychological distress (OR = 1.073, p = 0.003). Conclusions: Psychological resources demonstrate domain-specific effects on workforce outcomes in midwifery: self-leadership strategies strongly enhance job performance, whereas job satisfaction and turnover intention are influenced primarily by organizational conditions. These findings highlight the need for multi-level strategies to support the sustainability of the midwifery workforce. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Spiritual Awareness in Healthcare Professions: Enhancing Humanized and Holistic Care)

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