ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to identify factors that predict nurses' spiritual care perspectives and practices and compare these perspectives and practices between nurses in two subspecialties. The sample included 181 oncology nurses and 638 hospice nurses who completed the Spiritual Care Perspectives Survey and a demographic form by mail. The hospice nurses surveyed used traditional spiritual care interventions more frequently and held more positive perspectives regarding spiritual caregiving than oncology nurses. However, what determined spiritual care practices and perspectives most was the spirituality of the nurse. Nurses must continue to explore how their personal spirituality contributes to their caregiving.
Subject(s)
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Hospice Care/methods , Nursing Staff/education , Nursing Staff/psychology , Oncology Nursing/methods , Pastoral Care/methods , Adult , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Middle Aged , Nursing Evaluation Research , Surveys and Questionnaires , United StatesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To provide information about spiritual assessment strategies and the spiritual stages through which persons with cancer pass. DATA SOURCES: Books and articles (including research reports) from various disciplines including nursing, medicine, theology, and other health care professions: personal narratives and reflections of individuals with cancer. CONCLUSION: Sound spiritual assessment is prerequisite for sound spiritual intervention. Nurses must find the time, means, and knowledge to incorporate spiritual assessment into nursing care. Patients agree. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Nurses can improve spiritual assessment by eliciting patient accounts of the evolving spiritual journey and prayers that parallel changes in health status.
Subject(s)
Holistic Nursing/methods , Neoplasms/nursing , Neoplasms/psychology , Nursing Assessment , Religion and Psychology , Colorectal Neoplasms/nursing , Colorectal Neoplasms/psychology , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Although nurses describe their professional uniqueness as care of the whole person, the spiritual needs of patients often have received little attention. Therefore, this descriptive, cross-sectional survey was designed to investigate the spiritual health of oncology patients and how well oncology nurses assess spiritual health. To achieve these aims, parallel nurse (r = 0.92) and patient (r = 0.89) Spiritual Health Inventories (SHI's) were distributed to a convenience sample of 40 nurse-inpatient pairs from two hospitals. Twenty three patients with primary lung cancer and twenty seven registered nurses responded (n = 50). Analysis of SHI scores of the 21 nurse-patient pairs indicated that these nurses inaccurately assessed their patients' spiritual health (p less than 0.05), and that patient and nurse subjects preferred different spiritual caregivers. Patient respondents reported a normatively high level of spiritual health, positively related both to age (p less than 0.02) and physical well-being (p less than 0.014). Afro-American and Caucasian nurse respondents rated the spiritual health of patients higher than nurses of Asian origin (p less than 0.006).