Perceptions of spiritual care among nurses undertaking postregistration education

Previous research has suggested that qualified nurses recognize that patients have spiritual needs and consider meeting those needs to be important. However, there is also evidence suggesting that nurses feel ill prepared for, and uncertain about, their role as spiritual care providers. A questionnaire on spiritual care and the nurse's role was distributed to a group of 59 registered nurses (of varying ages and levels of experience) undertaking a palliative care module as part of a post-registration degree programme in Scotland. The findings demonstrated that respondents regarded spiritual care as important, especially for certain patient groups. They also thought nurses had a significant responsibility in spiritual caregiving. Individuals varied in how difficult they found identifying patients in need of spiritual care and in meeting those needs. However, analysis of responses revealed considerable insight into possible signs of patient need, examples of nursing interventions and potential barriers to effective spiritual care. Some areas of relative lack of knowledge were identified and may indicate where future efforts to raise awareness of spiritual care among similar groups of nurses should be concentrated.