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Alberto
Gorayeb de
Carvalho |
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Young
people
increasingly
engage
in
Spirituality
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In the
present
constant
search
for
Spirituality,
youth is
also
included
with its
yearnings.
And
there is
something
good
about
it:
today,
Health
Care
workers
try to
insert
the
spiritual
component
into
their
careers
to
provide
answers
to their
desires
and
filling
gaps in
Health
Care.
Check
out, on
the
subject,
and look
into the
vision
of the
general
practitioner
Alberto
Gorayeb
de
Carvalho,
coordinator
of the
Academic
Department
of AME-Brazil.
How is youth’s
relationship
with
Spirituality in
the academic
world?
The scenario of
ethical, social,
relation and
political
transformations
that we
experience so
intensely
reflects in a
special way the
youth of today.
As beings of our
time, we seek
speed, and
solutions, as a
means of
maintaining and
fulfilling life
goals forgetting
that, often,
these strategies
will keep us
from the essence
of our
practices. With
regard to our
professional
Education for
Health, this
scenario seems
to be reinforced
even more. In
the meantime, I
see Spirituality
as an
opportunity to
rescue the
sense, purpose
and meaning of
our essential
performance as “caring
beings”.
Care implies
full surrender
and dedication,
conditions that
may contradict
social rules and
the prevailing
Health models.
The academic
environment that
is sometimes
illustrated by
so many shades
of gray has
increasingly
opened up to
initiatives that
embrace
educational
goals that
consider
Spirituality.
They are
academic
leagues,
programs of
extension and
research, nuclei
of study, etc.
The student's
relation with
these
initiatives
tends to be
close and these
strategies end
up by going
beyond the
initial attempt
to be a
complementary
training period,
welcoming the
student and his
anguishes in a
total way and
stimulating - in
addition to a
remodeling of
professional
praxis -
self-care
practices and
self-knowledge,
thus equipping
the student with
ethical-humanistic
competences for
the full care of
Human Health.
Why is this
relation
important?
Scientific
evidence offers
us more and more
reasons to
devote ourselves
to the study of
the
Health-Spiritual
relation. They
are studies with
complex
methodologies,
with large
contingents, and
so on. I believe
that my years of
study in Health
and
Spirituality,
reinforced by
the changes in
personal and
professional
attitudes and
postures that I
already see in
me, make me have
a more “complex”
opinion about
its importance.
I try to give
the following
idea: on the one
hand we need to
stimulate
Spirituality as
a professional
competence to be
achieved
(including it in
multi-professional
services and
respecting it as
a component of
multidimensionality
of people); and
on the other
hand we need to
value
Spirituality as
a strategy of
preparation and
personal growth
that will enable
the student to
meet his essence
and,
consequently,
fulfill that
primary goal of
the “caregiver
being” I
referred to
earlier.
Do any of these
courses prevail
over the others
in this
search for
Spiritualization
in the Health
area?
We still need
surveys to
clarify us on
these numbers.
We analyzed the
higher numbers
possible of
academic
initiatives
accomplished by
students of the
medical courses,
but most of the
times they have
a
multi-professional
attitude in
their
activities.
Going beyond, I
am aware of two
projects of
extension/complementary
activities in
the area and
that were born
in nursing
universities,
namely: the
Academic League
of Spiritual
Health Care
(LACES) of the
Nursing
Department of
the Federal
University of
Ceara,
Fortaleza, and
the Study Group
on Spirituality
and
Comprehensive
Care, ASCES
University,
Caruaru (PE).
Regarding
medical courses,
the main study
that aimed to
analyze the
Brazilian
scenario on
academic
initiatives in
Health and
Spirituality was
carried out in
2012, showing
that an average
of 40% of the
total number of
institutions
analyzed already
approached
Spirituality in
some way in
their curricula
(comparing with
English and
American values,
where these
numbers reach 70
and 80%).
In the
University, what
is the teacher's
vision regarding
this quest for
Spirituality?
I see an
“evolution”
among the
University
teaches when the
matter is
“Health and
Spirituality”.
At the
beginning, there
are looks of
disbelief and
doubt, and then
curiosity and
then they want
to know what it
is about, and it
is up to the
student body to
conquer the
teachers, tutors
and managers of
the courses.
I remember that
the first
activities of
the Group of
Studies in
Health and
Spirituality (GESESP)
- a group that
“made me” during
my medical
education in
Recife between
2011 and 2016 -
aroused a series
of comments
among the
University
tutors. It was
as if they did
not understand
what we were
doing there.
Over the years
as the
initiative was
consolidating,
we always
invited some
tutors to be
part of the
activities of
the group.
Finally, we had
the approval of
a Transversal
Module in Health
and Spirituality
by the
collegiate
student of the
institution in
2015.
What about the
students? Are
they looking at
Spirituality as
a differentiator
in professional
qualification
and
humanization?
No doubt! More
and more we have
the students’
full attention
and we can see a
difference
through their
similar
reactions. In
general, they
never crowd the
classrooms;
however, they
participate more
and more
intensely. I
always say is
that it is
necessary to
adequate the
educational
proposals in
Health and
Spirituality to
the demands of
the students'
lives and the
advancement of
Health
Education; we
need innovative,
participatory
and inclusive
methodologies!
There is no time
now to be spent
in the
classrooms with
endless exhibits
and a
transmitting
education. Our
youth wants to
exchange, to
teach, to act
and to practice
- this is the
education that
will transform
the world.
Has the Academic
Department of
AME Brazil
encouraged this
search? How?
The Academic
Department of
AME Brazil has
always been a
great partner in
Health and
Spirituality
initiatives.
Many of the
people, who lead
this movement in
Brazil's
universities,
are also
employees of the
department. This
exchange is
fruitful for us
all, and we are
always in
contact and
sharing both the
victories and
the anguish,
always seeking
to share
strategies and
ideas. Some
university
initiatives end
up by forming
Assisted Groups
of some Regional
Academic
Department,
which makes this
contact easier.
What can the
young academic
be able to find
in the DA
activities that
are happening in
Brazil?
There are
several
activities! In
general, each
Academic
Department
(there are 18
ADs in Brazil,
spread across
the five
regions)
establishes its
activities in
parallel with
the activities
of the AME to
which it is
linked. They are
groups of
studies on the
basic works of
the Spiritist
Doctrine,
studies on
important
writers such as
Andre Luiz and
Bezerra de
Menezes and even
activities of
Health Care and
Charity, like
the assistance
given to an
Elderly Home
provided by the
Academic
Department of
the AME in Rio
de Janeiro (RJ).
All activities,
as well as their
agendas, are
available at AME
Brazil’s
Register 2016 -
2017, on the AME
Brazil website (www.amebrasil.org.br)
What about the
MEDNESP? What
will DA bring to
the public?
The Mednesp is
always a great
opportunity to
expand our
borders, and
this time it
will be no
different! We
prepared the
second edition
of the Symposium
of DA AME Brazil
- the first
edition was held
in Mednesp
Goiania, in 2015
- that will take
place during one
of the shifts of
the event. The
novelty for this
year is that the
symposium
proposes the
study of the 10
facets of the
Medical-Spiritist
Decalogue,
written by Dr.
Bezerra de
Menezes in 1968,
and will be
carried out by
academic
speakers from
all over Brazil!
We will also
have the study
of Scientific
Works, a unique
opportunity to
exchange
experiences with
great nouns
known for their
work on ”Health
and
Spirituality”
and that will
attend the
event. In
addition, DA AME
Brazil and DA
AME of Rio de
Janeiro are
organizing
lodging for the
students
-Student
Accommodation -
a way of making
it easier for
the students
(more than 100
participants are
expected to be
accommodated) by
reducing the
cost of lodging
in the city. The
Student
Accommodation of
Mednesp 2017 can
be obtained
through the
emailcomunicaca@pmail.com).
We all look
forward to what
will be the
greatest Health
and Spirituality
event on the
planet!
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