Spiritual care as perceived by Lithuanian student nurses and nurse educators: A national survey

Abstract

Political restrictions during 50years of Soviet occupation discouraged expressions of spirituality among Lithuanians. The aim of this paper is to describe Lithuanian nursing educators' and students' perception of spiritual care in a post-Soviet context. This cross-sectional study was carried out among student nurses and nursing educators at three universities and six colleges in Lithuania. The questionnaire developed by Scott (1959) and supplemented by Martin Johnson (1983) was distributed to 316 nursing students in the 3rd and 4th years of studies and 92 nurse educators (N=408). Student nurses and their educators rated general and professional values of religiousness equally; although students tended to dislike atheistic behavior more than educators. Four main categories associated with perceptions of spirituality in nursing care emerged from the student nurses: attributes of spiritual care, advantages of spiritual care, religiousness in spiritual care, and nurse-patient collaboration and communication. Themes from nurse educators paralleled the same first three themes but not the last one. Student nurses and nurse educators acknowledged the importance of spiritual care for patients as well as for care providers - nurses. In many cases spiritual care was defined by nursing students and nurse educators as faith and religiousness. Being a religious person, both for students and educators, or having spiritual aspects in students' personal lives influenced the perception of religious reflection.