Spirituality and Perception towards Spiritual Care among Nursing Students

Abstract

Aim: A descriptive study was conducted to assess the perception of nursing students towards spiritual care in a selected college of nursing in Ernakulum District, Kerala. Background: In order for nursing education to prepare nurses for holistic patient care, it is critical that educators become more aware of the religious and spiritual dimensions in patient care and be able to provide adequate knowledge and skills for nurses to offer spiritually- based care in an ethical way. Furthermore, spiritual care is an essential component in the nursing context, as nurses have to care for patients who may often turn to the spiritual dimension to cope and heal. These aspects are important issues to be considered in planning what should be taught as part of spiritual care. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the spirituality and perception towards spiritual care among nursing students and to assess the relationship between the same. Methods: A Descriptive analytical study was conducted among 129 BSc Nursing students studying in a Nursing College attached to a Medical College Hospital of South India. Convenience sampling technique was adopted for the study. Spirituality assessment scale and Nursing Spiritual Care Perspective Scale (NSCPS) were used to collect the data. Pilot study was conducted and the study was found to be feasible. Permission from the authorities was obtained and data collection was done. The data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics and R software used for the analysis. Results: The study revealed that there was a statistically significant mild positive correlation between spirituality and nurse’s perception towards spiritual care (r=0.23, p and lt;0.01). Conclusion: Spirituality is a significant concept for the discipline of nursing with profound consequences for caring patients. Spirituality is an important aspect of holistic care. This study identified that there is a significant mild positive correlation between spirituality and spiritual care. The study found that nurses were very accepting of the need for spiritual care as part of their nursing role but that nursing education had not paid adequate attention to integrating this dimension into the nursing curriculum.