The relationship between nursing students’ compassion competencies and perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care

Abstract

Abstract Objectives The present study was conducted to examine the relationship between nursing students’ compassion competencies and their perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care. Methods The population of the study consisted of nursing students over the age of 18 years who were educated at the nursing faculty of a state university in Turkey between May and June 2022. The study was completed with 263 student nurses. The “Sociodemographic Characteristics Form,” “Compassion Competency Scale,” and “Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale” were used to collect the data. Frequencies, percentages, mean values, standard deviations, and Pearson Correlation Analysis were used to evaluate the data. Results The nursing students were found to have a high level of compassion competency (4.04 ± 0.57). It was also found that the students had moderate (54.76 ± 5.35) perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care. On the other hand, there was a moderate and positive relationship between the total mean scores of “Compassion Competency” and “Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care” (p > 0.05). Significance of results It was concluded that as nursing students’ compassion competencies increased, their perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care also increased.