BMJ  2003;327:1049 (1 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7422.1049-c

Letter

Everyone has own spirituality

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Gatrad et al encourage the growth of understanding of the needs of minorities.1 We are all, of course, minorities in our own way. As they point out, each of us has a culture, and possibly a religious tradition, to come from and to fall back on, but as they also observe, each of us as an individual observes and follows these in our own way.

Fundamental change in institutional arrangements, education, and the willingness of service providers (not just in health care) to embrace complexity and diversity is certainly required.

The move towards teaching or training in "spirituality," so far advanced in an avowedly secular United States, is slowly being taken in the United Kingdom. Our centre was commissioned to review the research literature and evidence on spirituality in health by the Leicester health action zone, and much of the resultant material is recorded on our website (. . . [Full text of this article]

Mark R D Johnson, professor of diversity in health and social care

johnsons@cv77dq.freeserve.co.uk

Kip Jones, Economic and Social Research Council fellow in qualitative evidence in ethnicity and health care

Centre for Evidence in Ethnicity Health and Diversity, Mary Seacole Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester LE2 1RQ


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Relevant Article

Palliative care needs of minorities
A Rashid Gatrad, Erica Brown, Hardev Notta, and Aziz Sheikh
BMJ 2003 327: 176-177. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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