Spiritual Intelligence Profile in Peruvian Health Sciences Students

Introduction: Health science students have a duty to care for human health; therefore, it is necessary to ensure a humanistic education based on the development and cultivation of Spiritual Intelligence. Objective: To know the Spiritual Intelligence profile and its associated factors in Peruvian health science students. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted, including 418 randomly selected students from nursing, medicine, dentistry, obstetrics, and pharmacy programs. A virtual survey was used to collect socio-educational and religious-spiritual variables. The profile of Spiritual Intelligence was assessed using the Spiritual Intelligence in Healthcare Practice Scale. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were performed using generalized linear models of the Poisson family to evaluate certain factors associated with a healthy profile of Spiritual Intelligence. Results: 21.1% of participants maintain a healthy profile of Spiritual Intelligence; also, in the dimensions of Spiritual Experience in Practice (14.1%), Existential Thinking (18.9%), Transcendental Awareness (15.3%). Considering oneself a spiritual person (RPa = 4.77; 95% CI: 1.98-11.4) and daily prayer practice (RPa = 3.02; 95% CI: 1.54-5.92) and weekly (RPa = 2.30; 95% CI: 1.12-4.72) were associated with a higher healthy profile of Spiritual Intelligence. However, several variables were identified that presented an unadjusted association with a healthy profile of Spiritual Intelligence. Conclusions: The proportion of health science students with a healthy profile of Spiritual Intelligence is low; there are certain modifiable associated factors that could enhance Spiritual Intelligence.