Dear Dr Grover, my answer is not specific to your question, but more a general comment. I find religion wishy washy if you know what I mean, in that church encourage prayer for all sorts of conditions without no scientific backing. I find this really annoying as scientists look for concrete evidence and it is so depressing this attitude they have. In fact I did my masters on diabetes and I find it ludicrous the oldish customs that encourage bad behaviour such as this described below. It is so depressing the customs and carrying on, so if you are to implement this in the curriculum please do so in a scientific manner where there is evidence for the behaviour as otherwise you lack credibility for what it is worth. Thanks Deborah

Lard have mercy: The Christian obesity epidemic

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Chicago Sun-Times | Cathleen Falsani | Read article “Weightymatter: Is religion making us fat?”

“Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition,” is how theclassic song lyric originally went. But America’s changing lifestyle hasevidently revised that somewhat. The new, more appropriate verse: “Praise theLord and pass the sweet rolls, gravy, pork chops, waffles, and pie.”

God must love the hefty and rotund, because, according toresearch by Purdue University professor Ken Ferraro published in the June issueof the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, he is cranking them out bythe score, at least among his devoted worshipers in certain American Protestantdenominations.

Ferraro, studying correlations between religious behaviorand body mass index, found in a 1998 study that those states with large numbersof persons professing a religious affiliation had higher than average numbersof obese people. In the new study, he breaks this down by specific creed, andreports that whereas 1 one percent or less of those embracing the Jewish,Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or other non-Christian religions qualify as obese, thenumbers of the markedly overweight rise dramatically the further one goestoward the Christian fundamentalist end of the spectrum: around 17 percent ofCatholics, 18 percent of Methodists, 20 percent of Pentecostal and Assembliesof God parishioners, and a striking 27 percent of Baptists, including theSouthern, North American and Fundamentalist wings.

Very Interesting ...and thought provoking inputs

You can look for articles from Giancarlo Lucchetti. Very good on this topic!

nice inputs 

I would agree that the concept of spirituality should be delivered in an undergraduate healthcare programme. Many younger students confuse spirituality with religion and I would suggest that this is due in part to lack of maturity and life experience. It would certainly benefit the student/newly qualified healthcare practitioner towards understanding a patient's/client;s needs