Nurses\u27 Spiritual Care Practices: Assessment, Type, Frequency, and Correlates

This descriptive, correlational study described the type, frequency, and correlates of nurses\u27 spiritual care practices (quantitative) and their experiences with the sacred at work (qualitative). A convenience sample of 554 (24%) of the Registered Nurses employed at a western United States faith-based tertiary care health system participated in this online survey. Nurses\u27 spiritual care practices were assessed using the 17-item Nurses\u27 Spiritual Care Practice Questionnaire (NSCQ). Factorial validity and reliability of the pilot NSCQ were established. Spiritual care practices most frequently endorsed were assessing patients\u27 spiritual beliefs pertaining to health and listening to patients\u27 stories of illness and their spiritual concerns. Over 90% of the nurses reported remaining with a patient after completing a task to show caring. Although nurses\u27 mean spiritual care practice scores were relatively low, item endorsement showed variability. Bivariate analyses revealed associations between nurses\u27 spirituality, religiousness, and work environment and the dependent variable, nurses\u27 spiritual care practices. Working day shift, past education in spiritual care, and nurses\u27 comfort level with spiritual care also were significant. No demographic variables were significant. Predictors in the final multivariate model (in order of strength) were nurses\u27 perception that spiritual issues at the work place came up frequently, nurses being more spiritual, nurses not working in pediatric care, and nurses having received education about spiritual care in the past. The qualitative analysis revealed that nurses\u27 experiences with the sacred at work reflected mostly positive engaging experiences supporting their personal spirituality and their desire to continue to engage with spiritual situations. Where there was a misfit between nurses\u27 and patients\u27 spiritual orientation, some nurses disengaged from the presenting spiritual concerns. This study is most informative about spiritual care practices of nurses who integrate their spirituality with traditional religiousness. Findings show differences in frequency of spiritual care provided across various areas of nursing, and they raise questions about whether the NSCQ adequately captures spiritual care practices in pediatric settings