The Importance of Spirituality Therapy and its Elements; Prayer, religious worship, and prayer with God in Nursing Care

Abstract

Background: Spirituality is one of the aspects of human existence that manifests itself significantly in times of crisis and stress; it creates meaning in life and inspires one to face problems. The aim of this study is to investigate the importance of spirituality in nursing care. Methods: Data source : related articles were searched from internal scientific databases and external databases of Web of ،Scopus ،Cochrane ،Pubmed, Science Direct ،Ovid, and Google scholar. Study eligibility criteria: Eligibility criteria included keywords of spirituality, religion, spirituality therapy, spiritual health and nursing care searched from 2000 to 2019. The study exclusion criteria were inadequate information in the study, lack of access to full text articles and reports. The study inclusion criteria were case-control studies, review articles, cohort articles, pilot studies, and clinical trials. At the end of the search, 74 articles out of a total of 143 articles were reviewed. Findings: Findings of this study showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between spirituality therapy and reduction of anxiety, depression and pain. It was also found that spirituality therapy improves psychological health and quality of life in cancer, hemodialysis and diabetic patients and improves the quality of life of infertile women. Conclusion : Spiritual nursing therapeutic intervention means taking into account the cultural and religious beliefs and spiritual care of patients in the therapy process and it is taking into account the transcendent dimension of those referred to hospital which leads them to the transcendent source. It is effective in reducing stress, depression, anxiety and pain in patients and enhancing the quality of life of patients with cancer and chronic diseases. The inclusion of spirituality in treatment and the inclusion of spiritual care in the training program of those trained to provide health care services are essential and should be addressed by educational planners and educational authorities.