Nurses' spiritual well-being and attitudes towards care of dying patients

Abstract

Aim. To investigate the relationship between nurses' spiritual well-being (SWB) and their attitudes towards care of dying patients in an Indonesian acute hospital setting. Background. Caring for dying patients is increasingly being carried out in the acute hospital setting. Given the propensity for becoming 'first responders' in dealing with dying patients, attitude towards care of dying patients is an important expertise for nurses which is hypothetically sculpted by various personal and professional experiences. Design and Methods. This cross-sectional correlational study targeted nurses (N=246) from 11 acute care units of Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The data were collected using a self-reported survey involving a demographic questionnaire, FA TCOD, Form B© and SHALOM© scales. The response rate was greater than 90% (N=228). Hypotheses were tested by Pearson r correlation tests (95% CI), whereas secondary analyses were performed utilising independent ttests and one-way ANOVA tests. Results. A weak relationship was demonstrated between nurses' SWB and attitudes towards care of dying patients (r=0.243, 95% C/0.117, 0.36l;p<0.001). This study found, however, that some professional experiences were significant predictors of the attitudes, including education-related and work-related factors. Implications. To improve nurses' attitudes towards care of the dying, the communication and spiritual aspects of EOL care need to be enhanced in conjunction with feasible educational strategies. Supporting policies need to address nursing practice and education areas, while there is considerable scope for futher research in this area.