SPIRIT: A Design Framework To Support Technology Interventions for Spiritual Care Within and Beyond the Clinic

2026-01-20

AI Summary

Current human-computer interaction research pays insufficient attention to spiritual care, and the integration of technology in clinical practice remains notably lagging. Addressing this gap, this study collaborates with professional spiritual care providers to reconceptualize “spiritual support” and, through qualitative methods—including member checking, secondary data analysis, and semi-structured interviews—identifies three foundational prerequisites and six design dimensions for spiritual care. Building on these insights, the work presents SPIRIT, the first systematic design framework tailored for digital interventions in spiritual care. This framework offers actionable guidance for developing digital spiritual care systems across both clinical and non-clinical settings, thereby expanding the modalities and boundaries of technological engagement in this domain.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Humans and AI: Intelligent User Interfaces
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Social Networks and Social Media: Socio-technical web-based systems
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web applications in cross-disciplinary domains and verticals such as mixed reality, smart cities, and digital health

Abstract

Despite its importance for well-being, spiritual care remains under-explored in HCI, while the adoption of technology in clinical spiritual care lags behind other healthcare fields. Prior work derived a definition of"spiritual support"through co-design workshops with stakeholders in online health communities. This paper contributes: (1) a revision of that definition through member checking with professional spiritual care providers (SCPs); (2) a novel design framework -- SPIRIT -- which can help to expand models of delivery for spiritual care using digital technologies. Through re-analysis of previous data and new interviews with SCPs, we identify three prerequisites for meaningful spiritual care: openness to care, safe space, and the ability to discern and articulate spiritual needs. We also propose six design dimensions: loving presence, meaning-making, appropriate degree of technology use, location, degree of relational closeness, and temporality. We discuss how SPIRIT offers guidance for designing impactful digital spiritual care intervention systems within and beyond clinical settings.

Problem

• spiritual care
• human-computer interaction
• digital health
• technology intervention
• clinical support

Innovation

• spiritual care
• design framework
• human-computer interaction
• digital intervention
• co-design