[The Spiritual State, Spiritual-Care Attitudes, and Behaviors of Nurses Working in Long-Term Care Facilities]

The rapid increase in Taiwan's aging and disabled population has led to a growing demand for residential long-term care (LTC) facilities. Institutional living may impact older adults' spiritual well-being, and the spiritual health of nurses may also influence the quality of care.

This study was designed to investigate the current status of spiritual health, spiritual-care attitudes, and spiritual-care behaviors among nurses in LTC facilities and to examine the interrelationships among these factors and the predictors of spiritual-care behaviors.

A cross-sectional design was adopted. One hundred and fourteen nurses completed the Spiritual Health Scale, the Spiritual-Care Attitude Scale, and the Spiritual-Care Behavior Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analysis.

Spiritual state was found to correlate positively with spiritual-care attitudes (r = .739, p < .01) and spiritual-care behaviors (r = .718, p < .01). Spiritual-care attitudes were also shown to correlate positively with spiritual-care behaviors (r = .792, p < .01). In the multiple regression analysis, age was found to associate negatively with spiritual-care behaviors (β = -0.28, p = .026). Those participants who had received spiritual education/training reported higher average spiritual-care behaviors (β = 8.38, p < .001). Finally, spiritual state (β = 0.25, p = .014) and spiritual-care attitudes (β = 0.84, p < .001) were found to relate positively with spiritual-care behaviors.

The findings of this study provide a reference for the development of spiritual education programs and clinical strategies for nurses with the goal of promoting holistic care and spiritual well-being in LTC settings.