The effects of spiritual care intervention on spiritual well-being, loneliness, hope and life satisfaction of intensive care unit patients

BACKGROUND

The intensive care unit is a place where patients try to cope with pain and question the meaning and purpose of life and spiritual needs emerge.

OBJECTIVE

The present study was conducted to examine the effects of spiritual care interventions on the spiritual well-being, loneliness, hope, and life satisfaction of patients treated in intensive care.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted in an intensive care unit as an interventional study with a randomized pre-test, post-test, and control group between September and December 2021. A total of 64 patients, 32 in the intervention group and 32 in the control group, were included in the sample. The patients in the intervention group received eight sessions (twice a week) of spiritual nursing interventions according to the Traditions-Reconciliation-Understandings-Searching-Teachers model in the intensive care unit, while the control group received routine nursing care.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 63.53 ± 4.10 years in the intervention group and 63.37 ± 3.18 years in the control group. Most of the participants in both the intervention (59.4 %) and control (68.7 %) groups were female. Following the intervention, the findings showed that the intervention had positive effects on patients' spiritual well-being (t = -10.382), loneliness (t = 13.635), hope (t = -10.440), and life satisfaction (t = -10.480) levels (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

It was found that the spiritual care provided in the intensive care unit positively affected patients' spiritual well-being, hope, loneliness, and life satisfaction levels. It can be recommended that nurses working in intensive care develop a spiritually supportive environment by addressing the spiritual issues of patients and their relatives and using existing spiritual care services.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE

Intensive care nurses should provide an environment and nursing care that meet their patients' spiritual needs. Spiritual care can be given to improve spiritual well-being, hope, and life satisfaction levels and to alleviate loneliness in intensive care patients.

Spiritual Care in Holistic Nursing Education: A Spirituality and Health Elective Rooted in T.R.U.S.T. and Contemplative Education

Research to date demonstrates that spiritual care as an integral part of holistic nursing can be hampered if nurses experience insufficient preparation or organizational cultures that fail to prioritize spiritual well-being. In response, the author has developed a three-credit spirituality and health elective in an undergraduate nursing program to help participants address spiritual needs and mobilize spiritual strengths within themselves, patients, and workplaces. Using the T.R.U.S.T. Model for Inclusive Spiritual Care as its framework, the six-unit course draws on contemplative education practices in hopes of preparing a critical mass of nurses with the ability and confidence to foster safe, relevant spiritual care and promote a holistic, patient-centered health care culture. Course participants regularly demonstrate and report deeper self-awareness, skills development, and confidence in relation to spiritual care; the course also has been positively evaluated and fully subscribed over its seven offerings to date, validating its effectiveness in relation to short-term outcomes. Research is needed to evaluate its long-term effectiveness in helping alumni integrate spiritual care into their holistic practice and workplace culture.