Integrating Spiritual Care Practices into Maternity Care: A Toolkit Approach Informed by the Delphi Method to Enhance Maternal Well-being and Neonatal Health Outcomes

Objective

This Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, SPIRIT-MOM project, addresses a critical gap in European healthcare: the neglect of spiritual well-being in maternity services. Despite evidence linking spiritual care to reduced trauma and improved resilience, it remains absent from policy and practice. This project will develop and validate the first pan-European, co-designed Spiritual Care Toolkit to equip midwives with practical strategies for this essential aspect of holistic care. This project addresses this gap by developing, validating, and disseminating an evidence-based, toolkit that can be individually tailored for the integration of spiritual care practices into maternity services. The methodology will employ a sequential mixed-methods design, comprising: 1) a scoping review and qualitative study with diverse women and birthing people to explore and map spiritual experiences; 2) a Delphi consensus study with ~80 experts/service users across Europe to define feasible, equitable spiritual care practices; 3) co-design and feasibility assessment of the Toolkit. This methodology ensures the output is evidence-based, woman-centered, and clinically actionable. A multidisciplinary panel of experts including midwives, obstetricians, mental health specialists, spiritual care providers, and service users will be convened to identify, refine, and validate core toolkit materials. These will include assessment guidelines, intervention strategies, staff training modules, and policy recommendations tailored to diverse healthcare settings. SPIRIT-MOM will provide a foundational framework to transform maternity care, aligning with EU priorities on gender equality, person-centred care, and sustainable health systems. The findings will be disseminated through social media, peer-reviewed publications, a project website, policy briefs, and presentations at international conferences, to inform policy, standardize care quality, and improve quality of life for families across Europe.