A new peer reviewed paper published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine urges clinicians to integrate meaning, purpose, and spirituality into lifestyle medicine practice, arguing that these factors help patients adopt and maintain health promoting behaviours.
The paper, titled Meaning, Purpose, and Spirituality in the Clinical Practice of Lifestyle Medicine, was informed by discussions at a national summit held in March 2025 in San Diego. The event was organised by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in partnership with the Global Positive Health Institute and supported by funding from the Ardmore Institute of Health and Point Loma Nazarene University.
Nearly 100 multidisciplinary experts attended the summit, including clinicians, researchers, and health leaders. The gathering focused on translating decades of research on meaning, purpose, and spirituality, collectively referred to as “MPS”, into practical guidance for clinical use in lifestyle medicine.
Evidence reviewed in the paper connects MPS with several positive health outcomes. Studies associate it with healthier behaviours, stronger psychological resilience, improved well-being, and reduced mortality risk.
Recognition of spirituality as a dimension of patient care has also come from major health organisations including the The Joint Commission and the American Medical Association. Despite this acknowledgement, the authors note that MPS remains inconsistently incorporated into everyday clinical practice.
Marc Braman, MD, MPH, the paper’s first author and a past president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, emphasised the need for a whole person approach.
“We need to see and value patients as whole people and align care with what matters to them,” Braman said. “Whole person lifestyle medicine works because health is valued by people who have important things to live for. Connecting these dots naturally produces positive change potentially transformative change. It is how we are wired.”
The authors outline several practical methods to incorporate MPS into clinical workflows, including brief tools for taking a spiritual history during patient encounters, whole person care frameworks, and team based approaches that integrate MPS into intake processes, documentation, follow-up appointments, and group medical visits.
The paper emphasises that discussions about meaning, purpose, and spirituality should remain patient-led, culturally sensitive, and grounded in trust. A companion toolkit provides resources and strategies to support clinicians in applying these approaches.
The paper also identifies structural challenges that limit broader adoption of MPS in clinical care. The authors call for reimbursement models that better support whole person care, the development of metrics to evaluate MPS integration, and expanded clinician training in addressing meaning, purpose, and spirituality.
They also highlight the recent expansion of the “connectedness” pillar within the lifestyle medicine framework by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine as an opportunity to formally incorporate these concepts.
The study is one of four publications in a special issue of the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine focused on meaning, purpose, and spirituality in health care. The collection examines evidence linking MPS to health outcomes, strategies for clinical implementation, implications for medical education and training, and benefits for clinician well-being.
Micaela Karlsen, PhD, MSPH, senior director of research and quality at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, said the special issue highlights the broader importance of these factors.
“This special issue comprehensively addresses the value of understanding meaning, purpose, and spirituality on healthcare, in implementing it for better clinical care and clinician well-being, and integrating it into medical education to build the knowledge and skills of future professionals,” Karlsen said. “Clinicians don’t just want to see their patients survive; they want to see them thrive, and to do that they need to understand all drivers of the individual’s health.”
The summit and resulting publications reflect growing momentum in lifestyle medicine to address the root causes of chronic disease through evidence based and holistic approaches. By positioning meaning, purpose, and spirituality as central elements of care, the authors aim to improve patient outcomes, support sustained behaviour change, and promote well-being among both patients and clinicians.