Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics

pirituality is recognized globally as an important aspect to respond to many
 questions associated with health and happiness. The World Health Organization is also interested in pursuing the physical, psychological, and social dimensions of health (1).
There are several challenges regarding the definition of spiritual health and the advancement of research in this regard (2). In addition, due to the controversies, it is difficult to achieve a common definition of spirituality (3, 4).
However, it seems that the current definitions (5) on the concepts and indicators of spiritual health do not provide comprehensive coverage of all factors in societies; therefore, the results obtained from spiritual health research in one society are not generalizable to different societies.
Furthermore, due to the differences in people's attitudes towards religion and spirituality, it is difficult to evaluate these concepts independently or in combination. As we know, the cognition, actions, emotions, and personal effects of individuals are important indicators of spirituality.
 

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*Correspondence: Should be addressed to Dr. Esmaeil Fattahi. Email: Esmaeil.fattahi@yahoo.com

 

Please Cite This Article As: Solhi M, Fattahi E, Pouresmaeil M, Darvishigilan H, Rastaghi S. The Letter to Editor: A Comprehensive Definition of Spiritual Health. Health Spiritual Med Ethics. 2019;6(3):2.

Here, a new definition of spirituality is proposed which is more comprehensive and can resolve the disagreements to a certain extent. To this end, spiritual health is defined as satisfactions, as well as inner feelings and beliefs accompanied by constructive relationships with self, others, a higher power, or God within the specific cultural framework of each society, which results in the meaningfulness of life and death.
Accordingly, this newly defined concept of spiritual health can be utilized in different cultures and societies since the term "culture" is added to this definition and the concept of spiritual health is studied in cultural contexts. Moreover, all aspects of culture and cultural indicators are considered in this proposed concept.
Therefore, more valuable results can be achieved by developing tools and standard questionnaires that incorporate cultural indicators into the future of spiritual health research.
References
1.             Dhar N, Chaturvedi S, Nandan D. Spiritual health scale 2011: Defining and measuring 4th dimension of health. Indian J Community Med. 2011;36(4):275.Link
2.             Larson JS. The World Health Organization's definition of health: Social versus spiritual health. Soc Indic Res. 1996;38(2):181-92. Link
3.             Fisher J. The four domains model: Connecting spirituality, health and well-being. Religions. 2011;2(1):17-28. Link
4.             Hawks SR, Hull ML, Thalman RL, Richins PM. Review of spiritual health: definition, role, and intervention strategies in health promotion. Am J Health Promot. 1995;9(5):371-8. Link
5.             Harris H, Ellor JW, Yancey G. DSM-5: The intersectionality of spirituality, culture, and aging. J Relig Spiritual Aging. 2017;29(1):3-17. Link