The level of spiritual care competence of Polish nurses and the psychometric properties of the spiritual care competence scale (SCCS)

Spiritual Care[Givers] Competence in Palliative Care: A Scoping Review

To deliver spiritual care, professionals must be skilled in physical, mental, social, and spiritual care. Spiritual care competence includes knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and skills that enable successful or efficient care. This review aims to identify the scope of competence and the specific skills, knowledge, and attitudes used in providing spiritual care to people needing palliative care, and the main challenges and facilitators. A scoping review was developed using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. Six databases (Web of Science; MEDLINE/Pubmed; Scopus; CINAHL; MedicLatina and SciELO) were searched in September 2023, with an update in January 2024. The resulting 30 articles were analyzed using a content analysis approach. Information was categorized into three domains: cognitive, affective, and functional (based on three personal resources: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal). Palliative care professionals face a lack of training and insufficient preparation to deliver spiritual care. Spiritual care competence depends on professional spiritual development and experience, spiritual intelligence (cognitive), spiritual humility (affective), and having a critical and reflexive mind (functional). In the future, palliative care should seek to improve competent spiritual care. This review could help clarify the real configuration of competent spiritual care and lead to improvements in a professional's empowerment when delivering effective spiritual care to patients and families.

A Mixed-Method Study on the Assessment of Factors Influencing Nurses' Provision of Spiritual Care

The purpose of this study was to explore factors that influence nurses' beliefs about offering spiritual care.

STUDY DESIGN

A mixed-method study design, incorporating both quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative research, was used for this study (focus group discussion).

METHODS

The questionnaires were completed by a convenience sample of nurses and their assistants working in two public hospitals. These questionnaires included the Greek versions of the FACIT-Sp-12, SCIPS, NEO-FFI, and the Spiritual Climate Scale, as well as a specially designed questionnaire to gather demographic, socioeconomic, and professional information about the study population (SCS). Three nurses and two nursing assistants who worked in public hospitals and were chosen through purposive sampling made up the sample for the qualitative study. In utilizing inductive content analysis methodology, a qualitative analysis was carried out.

RESULTS

Greek nurses frequently offer spiritual care to their patients, primarily existential spiritual care. It was discovered that the spiritual climate, the nurses' positive coherence, and their educational level all exert a favorable effect on total spiritual care. Three categories and seven subcategories were used to describe the participants' prior experiences with spiritual care.

CONCLUSIONS

Greek nurses frequently offer spiritual care to their patients, and both internal and external factors influence their attitudes in this regard.

Nurses' perceptions and competencies about spirituality and spiritual care: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To identify and synthesize nurses' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and their spiritual care competencies.

DESIGN

A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

DATA SOURCES

The electronic databases PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, ProQuest, Scopus, CNKI, and WANFANG were systematically searched from the inception of each database to April 19, 2023.

REVIEW METHODS

Two reviewers independently completed the selection of included studies and data extraction. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) checklist was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. The study outcomes were meta-analyzed using STATA 15 software. Predefined subgroup analyses were conducted to explore differences in spiritual care competencies among nurses across religious affiliation and education levels.

RESULTS

Thirty-five cross-sectional studies conducted in 11 countries and territories met the inclusion criteria, with 17,786 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that the pooled mean scores for spirituality and spiritual care perceptions and spiritual care competencies were 3.62 (95 % CI: 3.41-3.83) and 3.46 (95 % CI: 3.28-3.63), respectively. Nurses with no religious affiliation had inferior spiritual care competencies (3.24) than nurses with religious affiliation (3.31); nurses with a master's degree or above had the greatest spiritual care competencies (3.59), while nurses with an associate's degree had the least (3.31).

CONCLUSION

Nurses' perceptions and competencies about spirituality and spiritual care were moderate, and both needed to be improved, especially among nurses with no religious affiliation and low education levels. Nursing educators and leaders need to emphasize both theory education in the spiritual dimension and dedication to training in spiritual care practice, as well as provide nurses with targeted teaching and training to improve their competency in addressing the spiritual needs of their patients.

Factors affecting spiritual care competency of mental health nurses: a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Although providing spiritual care is an important part of holistic nursing care for psychiatric patients, factors associated with spiritual care competency in mental health nurses remain unclear. The aim of our study was to explore a possible association of personal and external factors with spiritual care competency in mental health nurses.

METHODS

This prospective questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted by inviting mental health nurses from mental health hospitals and tertiary referral centers. Personality traits and spiritual care competency were assessed by using [1] "big-five Mini-Markers" questionnaire, and [2] spiritual care competency scale, respectively. From the 250 mental health nurses being invited, 239 valid questionnaires were valid for final analysis. Statistical analyses including descriptive statistics, ANOVAs, t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression models were used to investigate the associations between personal/external factors and their spiritual care competency in mental health nurses.

RESULTS

The mean age of the 239 participants was 35.96 ± 8.11 and the mean years of working experience was 9.41 ± 7.06. Over 90% of them had no experience of providing spiritual care. There were significant positive correlations of spiritual care competency with the experience of delivering spiritual care (p < 0.001), previous participation in spiritual care education programs (p = 0.045), a longer working experience (p = 0.014), and a higher education level (postgraduate vs. college, p = 0.006), as well as the personality components of "Conscientiousness" (p < 0.001), "Agreeableness" (p < 0.001), "Extraversion" (p = 0.03), and "Openness/Intellect" (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Both personal and external factors may be related to the self-perception of spiritual care competency among mental health nurses. These findings may help mental health nurses understand the possible positive and negative associations of their personality components with their spiritual care abilities. Moreover, our identification of the positive impacts of educational programs and previous experience of spiritual care on spiritual care competency may underscore the importance of tailoring appropriate training programs to cater for the individual needs of mental health nurses.

Assessment of Spiritual Care Practices Among Nurses Caring for Cancer Patients in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Introduction

The importance of spirituality in health and wellness has been documented in the literature. While the developed countries have reported robust evidence of spirituality in nursing practices, there is scant evidence in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria.

Objectives

This study assessed the spiritual care practices of the nurses attending to cancer patients in a tertiary health institution in Ilorin. It further determined factors associated with spiritual caring practices among nurses.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2021 and December 2021 to assess spiritual care practices among nurses caring for cancer patients. During the study period, 66 nurses were recruited randomly from the hospital's medical and surgical clinics, palliative care department, and Obstetrics and Gynecology department. Twelve items validated Nurses' spiritual care practices questionnaire was adapted for this study. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23.

Results

The mean age of the respondents was 36.5 years ( + 10.1) while female respondents made up 83.3%. About 48% of the nurses had good spiritual caring practices while 52% had poor spiritual caring practices. Nurses with training in oncology (96%) with p = .001 and those with spirituality training (86.2%) with p = .017 showed significant association with spiritual care practices. This study concluded that spiritual care practices among nurses are sub-optimal with training as a significantly associated factor with spiritual care practices.

Conclusion

It is, therefore, suggested that spiritual care practices should be incorporated into all nursing training and curriculum. This will allow them to better support the spiritual needs of the patients, especially those with chronic diseases like cancer.

Improving psychiatric nurses' competencies in spiritual care and integration of clients' religion/spirituality into mental healthcare: outcomes of an online spiritual care training program

BACKGROUND

Religion/spirituality (R/S), which is associated with individuals' well-being and psychological health, plays a significant role in most clients' lives in healthcare systems. Although clients in mental healthcare settings prefer their R/S to be employed in nursing care, R/S has neither been adequately integrated into mental healthcare nor discussed in the assessment and nursing interventions of mental healthcare. Evidence shows that most psychiatric nurses receive little or no training in spiritual care (SC) and are unable to integrate clients' R/S into mental healthcare. To address this gap, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of an online SC training program on psychiatric nurses' competencies in SC and the integration of clients' R/S into mental healthcare.

METHODS

This experimental study was conducted with nurses working in a psychiatric hospital affiliated with a large University of Medical Sciences in southeast Iran. Random sampling was performed and 95 nurses were assigned to the intervention (n = 50) and control (n = 45) groups. Online SC training was conducted for the intervention group in four sessions over four weeks. Data were collected using the Self-Assessment of Spiritual Care Competency and R/S Integrated Practice Assessment Scale before and one month after the training program.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences between the two groups before training (p > 0.05). After the training, nurses in the intervention group obtained significantly higher scores in competencies in SC and integration of clients' R/S into mental healthcare compared to the control group, with a considerable effect size (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The online training program positively affected psychiatric nurses' competencies in SC and the integration of clients' R/S into mental healthcare. Since SC is a critical need for clients, specifically in mental healthcare settings, nurses must receive continuous education to provide SC to various clients.