Bio-psycho-social-spiritual Model of Care in Nutrition and Behaviour Change, Deborah Lycett

Embracing a Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model of Care in Nutrition and Behaviour Change | Prof. Deborah Lycett | ECRSH 2026 How can spirituality be integrated into nutrition and behaviour-change interventions to support more holistic and effective healthcare? In this keynote lecture, Prof. Deborah Lycett presents over a decade of research exploring the role of spirituality, meaning, and identity in nutrition and dietetic practice. Drawing on her experience as both a clinician and researcher, she argues that conventional nutrition interventions often address biological and psychological factors effectively but may overlook important spiritual and existential dimensions that influence eating behaviour, motivation, and long-term health outcomes. Lycett describes how her interest in spirituality and healthcare began after attending an ECRSH workshop in 2012. Recognizing a gap in both clinical practice and nutrition research, she sought to apply rigorous behavioural science methods to the study of spiritual care and its integration into dietetic interventions. Her work is grounded in three key principles: • Evidence-based healthcare • Person-cantered care • Respect for patients’ own beliefs, values, and sources of meaning A systematic review conducted by her team found that patients receiving dietetic care frequently experience unmet spiritual and existential needs. These needs were identified across a range of conditions, including cancer, diabetes, heart failure, and chronic respiratory disease, and were associated with increased psychological distress. Despite this, spiritual concerns were rarely addressed within routine nutrition care. Research involving UK dietitians showed that many practitioners recognized spiritual needs among patients and felt comfortable listening and offering support. However, they also reported limited confidence, insufficient training, and uncertainty about how to address these concerns appropriately. Most expressed a desire for additional education to help them provide better holistic care. A major focus of the lecture is the development of a spiritually integrated intervention for emotional eating and obesity. The programme combined: • Intuitive eating principles • Nutrition education • Behaviour-change techniques • Group support • Christian spiritual reflection, meaning-making, forgiveness, acceptance, and personal responsibility Feasibility studies suggested improvements in emotional eating, intuitive eating, mental well-being, spiritual well-being, and quality of life. Participants reported that integrating faith, meaning, and personal identity into eating behaviours helped them address struggles that traditional dietary approaches had not fully resolved. Lycett also reviews broader evidence from randomized controlled trials evaluating spiritually or religiously integrated interventions for obesity, emotional eating, and eating disorders. Across studies, interventions incorporating spirituality, mindfulness, meditation, meaning-making, compassion, prayer, or faith-based support generally produced favourable outcomes for eating behaviours, psychological well-being, body image, and quality of life. Another important finding concerns the complexity of spirituality. While positive religious coping can provide hope, resilience, and motivation, spiritual struggles—such as guilt, shame, anger toward God, or negative religious beliefs—may contribute to distress and hinder recovery. Healthcare professionals therefore need to recognize both the supportive and potentially problematic aspects of spirituality. To promote implementation in clinical practice, Lycett outlines how spiritual assessment can be incorporated into standard dietetic care. Simple questions about beliefs, sources of meaning, spiritual concerns, and the influence of faith on eating behaviours can help identify needs and guide referrals or support when appropriate. She concludes that a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach offers a more complete understanding of nutrition-related behaviour change. By recognizing the role of meaning, identity, values, and spirituality, healthcare professionals can better support patients in achieving sustainable improvements in health and well-being. 📍 ECRSH 2026, Basel, Switzerland 🎓 Speaker: Prof. Deborah Lycett #ECRSH2026 #DeborahLycett #NutritionAndHealth #DieteticPractice #BehaviorChange #BehaviourChange #BiopsychosocialSpiritual #HolisticHealthcare #PersonCentredCare #SpiritualCare #SpiritualityAndHealth #ReligionAndHealth #NutritionScience #LifestyleMedicine #EatingBehaviour #EmotionalEating #IntuitiveEating #ObesityCare #EatingDisorders #MentalWellbeing #IntegratedCare #HealthcareResearch #EvidenceBasedPractice #HolisticNutrition #PatientCentredCare #PositiveReligiousCoping #SpiritualNeeds #MeaningAndPurpose #HealthBehaviourChange #HealthcareInnovation #CompassionateCare #HealthPsychology #Wellbeing #DieteticResearch #NutritionInterventions #WholePersonCare