An Investigation of the Perceptions and Practices of Nursing Students Regarding Spirituality and Spiritual Care

Ebru Baysal,Asli Kalkim,Tulay Midilli

doi:10.3390/rel7080101

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine Turkish nursing students’ knowledge, practices and perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and to investigate the relationship between their perceptions and their demographics. This study was a descriptive survey conducted at a nursing school providing degree-level education in the city of Manisa, in the western part of Turkey. The sample of the study consisted of the 400 nursing students. A nursing student sociodemographic form, a form on nursing students’ knowledge and practices of spirituality and spiritual care, and the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale were used to collect the data. Half of the students could meet patients’ or individuals’ spiritual needs, and the spiritual care that they gave was most frequently listening, empathy, and psychological support. The research findings were that nursing students’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care were “sufficiently” although not “very sufficiently” defined. Being female, being in the second year of education and seeing spiritual care education as necessary were determinants of their perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care.

Highlights

Today, all branches of science support the idea of the “holistic” approach to people, and consider a person as a whole
This study was conducted with the aim of determining the perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care of Turkish nursing students who were studying for a university degree
In a study by Shores, 44% of students took part in religious activities once a week and 22% once a month [34]; it was reported in a study by Ross et al that 60% of nursing and midwifery students prayed regularly daily or weekly, and 51% took part in religious gatherings [36]. These findings show that the spiritual practices of nursing students focus primarily upon religious practices [36]

Summary

Introduction

All branches of science support the idea of the “holistic” approach to people, and consider a person as a whole. Events in the emotional-spiritual area can bring about some pathological changes in the body For this reason, when a person is being assessed, he or she must be taken as a whole, with the biological, social, psychological, cultural and spiritual dimensions [1]. The broad definition of the word spiritual includes spiritual needs and thoughts about the unexpressed topics of the practice of a religion or any kind of belief. Spiritual care has been defined as including all nursing care which supports a patient’s religious practices and personal beliefs and values. For this reason, religion is a basic part of the concept of spirituality [2]. Other reasons for the failure to provide spiritual care are shortage of time, a feeling of inadequacy on the part of nurses in providing spiritual care, and a lack of education [9]

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion