Nurses' spiritual care practices: becoming less religious?

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare
• Patient Care

Background:

• Nurses report challenges in consistently providing spiritual care.
• There's a recognized gap in understanding nurses' spiritual care practices and their perceived effectiveness.
• Nurses often feel inadequately prepared for spiritual care provision.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore nurses' current spiritual care practices.
• To investigate nurses' perceptions of the effectiveness of their spiritual care interventions.
• To identify preferred types of spiritual care among nursing professionals.

Main Methods:

• An exploratory descriptive study design was employed.
• Quantitative data collected via survey from 123 nurses.
• Qualitative data gathered through interviews with 5 volunteer nurses.

Main Results:

• Nurses favor spiritual care interventions that are not overtly religious.
• Effective spiritual care practices include active listening and providing comforting touch.
• Nurses perceive these supportive interventions as effective in patient care.

Conclusions:

• Nurses' spiritual care practices lean towards supportive, non-denominational interventions.
• Further education and resources may enhance nurses' confidence and competence in spiritual care.
• Listening and touch are key non-religious spiritual care modalities favored by nurses.