Developing a nursing perspective on spirituality and healing

The author of this column presents an overview of selected research and nursing theoretical thinking on spirituality and then offers a beginning exploration of the interrelationships of spirituality and healing. Work in both the totality and simultaneity paradigms is highlighted in the belief, following Nightingale, that spirituality and healing are crucial concepts in both paradigms, although currently defined differently if at all. Some nursing theorists give little or no attention to spirituality, while others such as Watson, Neuman, and Roy, in varying degrees, explicitly discuss the concept. Beginning theoretical conceptualizations have been offered in Rogers' science by, most notably, Reed, then Malinski and Smith. Healing and spirituality have been linked, although not necessarily in the same study. General directions for research using nursing theoretical frameworks and, in some cases, research methods derived from particular theories/models, are suggested.