‘This is the core of what we do’: a qualitative study of social prescribers’ attitudes towards spiritual health training and their future training needs

TL;DR

This study explores the attitudes of social prescribers toward spiritual health training and identifies their training needs in the UK primary care setting.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the training needs of social prescribers regarding spiritual health and suggests practical approaches for integrating this into their professional development.

Findings

Social prescribers recognize the value of spiritual health training for patient care and their own skills.

Participants emphasized the importance of in-person and ongoing training rather than one-off sessions.

Peer learning and integrating spiritual health into NHS training frameworks were suggested as effective methods.

Abstract

Despite the evidence supporting the importance of spiritual health to people’s wellbeing across diverse fields of treatment, the topic of spiritual health is not currently mentioned in National Health Service (NHS) training materials for social prescribers. Previous research with social prescribers has identified a need for training around spiritual health in primary care. This study sought in-depth understanding of these training needs and how they may be met.

Semi-structured interview data specific to the subject of training needs were extracted from interview data from a wider study, which explored barriers and facilitators to spiritual health discussions within social prescribing. UK-based social prescribers aged 18 + working in primary care were recruited purposively from different geographic areas, with data collected between December and February of 2025. An inductive, iterative approach was taken to the thematic analysis of data.

Findings were generated from interviews with 12 participants with three main themes: the value and need for spiritual health training, approaches to training, and the value of learning from peers and patients. However, while social prescribers interviewed broadly recognised the benefits that spiritual health training could bring to their work with patients, there were some who did not feel this was relevant to their role.

Participants identified how integrating spiritual health discussions into social prescribing improved not only patients’ health but also their own knowledge and skills. In-person training was widely felt to be appropriate for discussions around spiritual health. However, participants noted the limitations of one-off training sessions within this context, and highlighted the potential benefits of ongoing learning within the workplace. Peer learning appears to be a valuable and useful method of training for the topic of spiritual health, recognising social prescribers’ understanding of holistic health and focusing on the relevance of spiritual health to patients. Including the topic within NHS competency frameworks and training materials would also greatly support the relevance of spiritual health to social prescribing roles.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12875-025-02979-8.

Figures