Spirituality in a social work context: through the voices of South African practitioners

While social work has had an enduring relationship with spirituality in the Western context, little scholarly work exists in the Global South, particularly in South Africa. This qualitative study was undertaken to explore the views of social work practitioners with regard to how they conceptualize spirituality and their views regarding its salience in a social work context. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews, 45 practitioners were purposively selected for interviews across South Africa. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data which yielded four major themes. The first theme focused on the conceptualization of spirituality, the second on the salience of spirituality in a social work context, the third on the value of spirituality, and the fourth on spirituality within the context of South African social work education.