The University of Barcelona and Fundació Sanitària Mollet promote the recognition of spiritual health with a pioneering chair 

Anna Falcó-Pegueroles, lecturer at the UB’s Faculty of Nursing and director of the chair, stressed that this initiative seeks to highlight spiritual health as a fundamental dimension for the holistic care of people. “Following WHO guidelines, we want to provide scientific evidence to show that spiritual health is as relevant as physical, psychological or social health. In an increasingly technological healthcare context, it is essential to offer tools so that people can face their adversities with strength and autonomy”, she said. 

Joan Guàrdia, rector of the UB, pointed out the importance of “the Chair being linked to the UB’s Faculty of Nursing, which was created only last year”. He also expressed “the great complicity and institutional trust that unites us with the Fundació Sanitària Mollet, which allows us to build realities such as this Chair, which transform and improve people’s lives”. 

Finally, Jaume Duran, director general of the FSM, stressed that the spiritual dimension is key to people’s well-being. “Spiritual care is a source of peace and comfort that improves the quality of life. With this chair, we want to bring academic rigour to the model that we have developed in care to make it a benchmark”. 
 

The chair will promote actions such as research awards, courses, international meetings and the promotion of models of humanized care which include spiritual health. 

Among the attendees were Mercè Segarra, vice-rector for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transfer of the UB; Pilar Delgado, vice-rector for Academic Policy; Ricardo Casaroli, deputy for coordination with the network of health institutions; Teresa Lluch, dean of the Faculty of Nursing, and representatives of FSM.