2 - (SYM 138) Spiritual Competency Training in Graduate School: A Multi-site Study

To address the need for spiritual competency training in graduate school, we developed and evaluated the integration of standardized spiritual competency curriculum materials into 20 required clinical courses across accredited mental health graduate programs. Our goal was to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of this flexible, integrated curriculum content approach in fostering spiritual and religious competencies among graduate students. Specifically, we enhanced the empirically validated Spiritual Competency Training in Mental Health (SCT-MH) program, shown to increase attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to spiritual competency among licensed mental health professionals (Pearce et al., 2019, 2020). The enhanced SCT-MH course materials include an 8-module online program and in-class discussion questions and role-plays. Instructors replaced 15% of their current content with our standardized curriculum. All instructors received a Guidebook, including instructions for how to integrate the materials, a weekly class outline, discussion questions, and role play materials. Students and instructors received free access to the SCT-MH online course. Students completed three online assessments to measure spiritual competency: Baseline (Week 1); Immediately before the SCT-MH curriculum began (Week 6); and Immediately following the SCT-MH curriculum (Week 12). We also collected the grades for the students’ final case study project as a proxy for spiritual competency. No religion/spirituality issues were discussed or taught during the first six weeks of the course, allowing students to serve as their own wait-list controls. Results from the multi-site study will be provided, along with a detailed description of the content of the curriculum materials. Access to all SCT-MH curriculum and training materials will be freely provided to all participants.