ORIGINAL PAPER Brazilian Physicians’ Beliefs and Attitudes Toward Patients’ Spirituality: Implications for Clinical Practice Mary Rute Gomes Esperandio 1 • Geilson Antonio Silva Machado 2 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract A substantial amount of international research has demonstrated the impact of spirituality/ religiosity (S/R) on health outcomes. However, we do not know much about physician’s beliefs and attitudes toward patient’s spirituality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implications of physicians’ beliefs toward patient’s spirituality for clinical practice in the Brazilian context. Results of a literature review as well as an empirical research carried out on a sample of 48 Brazilian physicians, from two hospitals, regarding their beliefs and attitudes toward patient’s spirituality are presented. There appears to be an ambiguous attitude of receptivity and silence on S/R issues in clinical practice. Ethical issues related to the integration of patient’s spirituality/religiosity into health care practices are discussed. Keywords Brazilian physicians’ beliefs Á Spirituality/religiosity Á Clinical practice Introduction Studies on spirituality and health are robust in demonstrating how much the patient’s spirituality/religiosity guides and influences the course of the treatment. In Brazil, literature on spirituality and health has grown significantly, especially since 2010. Medicine and nursing are the leading research fields on this subject. However, if compared to USA and Europe, it may be alleged that research in Brazil is just beginning. A subset of the emerging work in Brazil addresses the role of physician’s beliefs. Do their understandings influence and/or determine their practices? This study reflects on clinical practice implications of physician’s beliefs and attitudes toward patients’ spiritu- ality in the Brazilian context. We initially review the Brazilian literature on the subject. Then, we present survey data collected between 2014 and 2015 from 48 doctors who & Mary Rute Gomes Esperandio mary.esperandio@pucpr.br Geilson Antonio Silva Machado geilson.teologia@gmail.com 1 Post-Graduate Program in Bioethics, Pontifical Catholic University of Parana ´ (PUCPR), Rua Brigadeiro Franco, 4185, ap. 11, Curitiba, PR CEP 80.220.100, Brazil 2 Department of Theology, Faculty of Theology, Pontifical Catholic University of Parana ´ (PUCPR), Curitiba, PR, Brazil 123 Journal of Religion and Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0707-y