Introducing a Holistic Health Care Education Model that Employs the Difference Between Being Healed and Cured

Abstract

Abstract: The two authors of this article have been researching and discussing for many years the importance of a possible health care education curriculum that seriously considers the difference between being healed and being cured and the role spiritualty may play. While participating in a longstanding study of spirituality within healthcare, both authors observed their own experiences of having been diagnosed with “cancer” but still feeling healthy and happy. Despite their biological health circumstances, they have been living life to the fullest with optimism that they are able to function beyond any suppositions associated with a medical diagnosis. Thus, they have been revisiting their earlier research findings and their hypothesizing that there is a difference between being healed and being cured, which should be introduced into health care education. The authors conclude that there is considerable support in the medical research community for further work around the relationship between spirituality and being healed. Their objective has been to discover something their research participants have claimed, related to being healed or cured. And the authors wished to gain some understanding of their personal approaches to healing that might prove useful to mainstream medical practice in North America. In this research paper, the authors will report on what their long-standing research group, consisting of a medical professor, a religious studies professor, a professor of higher education, a sociology professor, a registered nurse and a Reiki healer have reported on so far.