Spiritual intelligence of nurses in two Chinese social systems: a cross-sectional comparison study

Spiritual intelligence: a scoping review on the gateway to mental health

Spiritual Intelligence (SI) is an independent concept from spirituality, a unifying and integrative intelligence that can be trained and developed, allowing people to make use of spirituality to enhance daily interaction and problem solving in a sort of spirituality into action. To comprehensively map and analyze current knowledge on SI and understand its impact on mental health and human interactions, we conducted a scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, searching for 'spiritual intelligence' across PubMedCentral, Scopus, WebOfScience, and PsycInfo. Quantitative studies using validated SI instruments and reproducible methodologies, published up to 1 January 2022, were included. Selected references were independently assessed by two reviewers, with any disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. Data were extracted using a data extraction tool previously developed and piloted. From this search, a total of 69 manuscripts from 67 studies were included. Most studies (n = 48) were conducted in educational (n = 29) and healthcare (n = 19) settings, with the Spiritual Intelligence Self Report Inventory (SISRI-24) emerging as the predominant instrument for assessing SI (n = 39). Analysis revealed several notable correlations with SI: resilience (n = 7), general, mental, and spiritual health (n = 6), emotional intelligence (n = 5), and favorable social behaviors and communication strategies (n = 5). Conversely, negative correlations were observed with burnout and stress (n = 5), as well as depression and anxiety (n = 5). These findings prompt a discussion regarding the integration of the SI concept into a revised definition of health by the World Health Organization and underscore the significance of SI training as a preventative health measure.

Link between individual resilience and aggressiveness in dental students and the mediating effect of spirituality: A path analysis

BACKGROUND

The role of spirituality in people's lives, particularly the lives of health professionals, as well as its impact on mental health issues like anger and aggressiveness and resilience, are particularly significant. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the link between the propensity for violence and personal resilience in dental students by taking into account the function of spirituality as a mediator.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this cross-sectional questionnaire survey, 211 volunteer dentistry students participated from a government institute in Jammu and Kashmir, India using a stratified sample procedure. The Spiritual Orientation Scale, Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were used to gather the data. SPSS version 20.0 was used for conducting a bivariate analysis to ascertain the directionality connection between the research variables. In addition; structural equation modelling analysis was conducted by Smart PLS.

RESULTS

According to the findings, resilience and spirituality have a substantial and positive link (r = 0.468 r = 0.023). Aggressiveness and resilience revealed a statistically significant inverse link (r = 0.325, P = 0.04), but aggression and spirituality had no significant correlation. Spirituality played a substantial mediation influence in the indirect pathway of violence on resilience (P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

According to the study's findings, spirituality can help pupils become more resilient as individuals and can act as a helpful intermediary between aggressiveness and resilience.

Spiritual intelligence and professional nursing practice: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

The concept of spiritual intelligence was developed in 1997 based on philosophical theories and neurological evidence and introduced as the ultimate intelligence. Spiritual intelligence has been considered as one of the skills required by professionals and has recently gained traction within nursing practice. Understanding the role of spiritual intelligence and its association with professional nursing practice is crucial to creating knowledge in this area of inquiry.

Objective

To identify the best available evidence of the spiritual intelligence level and its correlation with professional practice among nurses.

Design

A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies were reported according to the PRISMA and MOOSE guidelines. The protocol for this systematic review was registered with PROSPERO with the identification CRD42021254881.

Data Sources

Ten electronic English and Persian databases [Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, Magiran, SID, IranDoc] were searched to identify eligible studies, published in the English and Persian languages from January 2000 to May 2020.

Review Methods

A systematized search strategy was used to include eligible published and unpublished observational studies that examined the spiritual intelligence level and its correlation with professional practice among nurses. Screening, quality assessments, data extractions, and analysis were undertaken using Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and carried out by two independent reviewers.

Results

Thirty-five studies, with a total of 7301 nurses, were included. The mean score for spiritual intelligence in 29 studies and 5853 nurses was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.57-0.69, I2 = 99.97%). The Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory was the most frequently used instrument to measure spiritual intelligence. Most of the professional nursing outcomes represented a positive association with nurses' spiritual intelligence. The pooled positive correlation coefficients between spiritual intelligence and a professional nursing practice components including the art of nursing, competence, attributes of practice and, personal commitment were 0.34 (95% CI: 0.24, 0.43, I2 = 63.4%, 5 studies), 0.42 (95% CI: 0.25,0.56, I 2 = 62.2%, 2 studies), 0.32 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.50, I 2 = 92.2%, 5 studies) and 0.41 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.49, I 2 = 74.3%, 8 studies) respectively.

Conclusions

The findings of this systematic review indicated a relatively high level of spiritual intelligence among nurses that was moderately associated with professional nursing practice. implementing strategies to promote spiritual intelligence levels among nurses is warranted.

Exploring the Meaning of Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Chinese Contexts: A Scoping Review

Spirituality is recognised as a fundamental aspect of health and nursing care. Yet, there are few studies exploring how this concept may be understood outside of Western culture. This scoping review seeks to address this omission by focusing specifically on research conducted with Chinese populations. This is important because people from Chinese backgrounds (PBC) are now residing all over the world, and their spirituality and spiritual needs should be considered when providing healthcare. Adopting a purely generalist understanding and application of spirituality may not capture the cultural difference that exists between the East and West. This scoping review adopted Arksey and O'Malley's method to focus on spirituality and spiritual care among PBC in health and nursing. The systematic strategy was adopted and used to search the main databases in health and nursing. Eighteen (n = 18) empirical studies were included in the review: 11 qualitative studies and seven quantitative involving 1870 participants. The scoping review revealed that in the Chinese understanding of spirituality is an abstract and personal concept which can refer to an internal vital force, experiences of suffering, and traditional Chinese cultural and religious values. As the multidimensional understanding of spirituality and spiritual care may cause confusion, these findings may provide a direction for the researchers emphasising the need for cultural and religious sensitivity when understanding of spirituality.

A Concept Analysis of Spiritual Health

Spiritual health is an important dimension of health and forms part of a comprehensive care. This study was conducted to redefine and clarify the components of spiritual health based on different worldviews through Walker and Avant's concept analysis method. Being given a life and a soul and having beliefs are the antecedents of spiritual health. The attributes of this concept include a morality-oriented intellectual connectedness with the self, others, and the universe guided by a connection with the Transcendent and Superior being in order to create meaning in life and find its purpose in the context of culture and religion; transcendence is ultimately the consequence of spiritual heath. Using the attributes appeared in this conceptual analysis, nurses can evaluate the spiritual health of their clients and help them create positive outcome by providing appropriate interventions.

The Relationship Between Religious Beliefs and Quality of Life Among Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

Patients with chronic diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), are prone to emotional distresses and reduction in life quality more than others. This study aimed to assess the relationship between religious beliefs and quality of life among patients with MS. In this study, 145 MS patients completed 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) questionnaires. The results indicated that unorganized religious activities were significantly associated with marital status and education level. Besides, internal religion was positively correlated to mental health. However, religious variables were not effective prognostic factors in physical and mental quality of life. Overall, further studies have to be conducted to determine the role of religion in quality of life of MS patients with different religious backgrounds.

Effect of spiritual intelligence, emotional intelligence, psychological ownership and burnout on caring behaviour of nurses: a cross-sectional study

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To propose a model of prediction of caring behaviour among nurses that includes spiritual intelligence, emotional intelligence, psychological ownership and burnout.

BACKGROUND

Caring behaviour of nurses contributes to the patients' satisfaction, well-being and subsequently to the performance of the healthcare organisations. This behaviour is influenced by physiological, psychological, sociocultural, developmental and spiritual factors.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey was used, and data were analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling.

METHODS

Data were collected between July-August 2011. A sample of 550 nurses in practice from seven public hospitals in and around Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) completed the questionnaire that captured five constructs. Besides nurses, 348 patients from seven hospitals participated in the study and recorded their overall satisfaction with the hospital and the services provided by the nurses. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

RESULTS

The key findings are: (1) spiritual intelligence influences emotional intelligence and psychological ownership, (2) emotional intelligence influences psychological ownership, burnout and caring behaviour of nurses, (3) psychological ownership influences burnout and caring behaviour of nurses, (4) burnout influences caring behaviour of nurses, (5) psychological ownership mediates the relationship between spiritual intelligence and caring behaviour and between emotional intelligence and caring behaviour of nurses and (6) burnout mediates the relationship between spiritual intelligence and caring behaviour and between psychological ownership and caring behaviour of nurses.

CONCLUSIONS

Identifying the factors that affect caring behaviour of nurses is critical to improving the quality of patient care. Spiritual intelligence, emotional intelligence, psychological ownership and burnout of nurses play a significant role in effecting caring behaviour of nurses.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Healthcare providers must consider the relationships between these factors in their continuing care and incorporation of these in the nursing curricula and training.