Perception Status of Nursing Department Students in Terms of Spirituality and Spiritual Care

Abstract

Purpose: The study was conducted to examine the spirituality and spiritual care perceptions of nursing department students. Methods: The study was conducted in descriptive design with nursing students at a state university. Permission was obtained from the ethics committee, the institution, and the students before the study. The universe of the study consisted of all nursing students studying at the faculty, and the sample consisted of a total of 500 students who were willing to participate in the study. The data were collected with a questionnaire and with the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Detection Scale. The scores received from this scale were between 17 and 85, and high total scores suggest that the spirituality and spiritual care detection scale level is “good.” The data obtained in the study were evaluated with the Student t, one-way ANOVA, and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: It was determined that 66.2% of the students had knowledge about spiritual care, 27.4% received this knowledge from the school, and 60.2% met the need for spiritual care with worshiping. It was determined that the mean spirituality and spiritual care detection scale score of nursing students was 66.83 ± 5.01, and the mean spirituality and spiritual care detection scale score was statistically significant according to the grades (p < 0.05). It was also found that the students with an authoritarian family structure had lower mean spirituality and spiritual care detection scale scores than students with democratic and protective families. Conclusions and Recommendations: It was found that many nursing department students had knowledge on spirituality and spiritual care, the mean spirituality and spiritual care score was “good,” and that the family structure and the grade affected this situation. In this respect, it is recommended that students are supported and prepared for the clinic with topics including spirituality and spiritual care in nursing education.