• Li-Fen Wu, Yu-Chen Liao, and Dah-Cherng Yeh.
• Department of Nursing, National Taichung University of Science of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan. lily0927@gmail.com
• J Nurs Res. 2012 Sep 1; 20 (3): 219-27.

BackgroundSpirituality is a necessary component of life. Spiritual care includes the activities necessary to meet the spiritual needs of clients. Nursing students must receive appropriate training to develop their abilities to provide spiritual care.PurposeThis study explored student nurse perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and related factors.MethodsWe used a cross-sectional descriptive design and purposive sampling. Participants were senior nursing students of both genders from 22 schools. The Chinese version of a spirituality and spiritual scale was the research tool. A total of 239 participants returned the questionnaires, giving a response rate of 91.92%.ResultsAverage participant age was 19.48 years; 45.61% reported no religion; 65.59% did not participate in religious activities; 94.56% reported having an interest in nursing; 52.72% were undecided about pursuing a nursing career; 3.35% did not want to be nurses; 46.44% had taken spirituality courses in school; 53.56% had taken spiritual care courses. Participants' overall perception of spirituality and spiritual care was "clear." This runs contrary to the idea that only religious people are spiritual and that non-religious nurses may be less able to tend to the spiritual needs of their patients. Participants who had taken spirituality or spiritual care courses had an interest in nursing and were willing to become nurses had, on average, significantly better spirituality knowledge and spiritual care attitudes than other participants.Conclusions/Implications For PracticeThis study found that education, experience, career interest in nursing, and career choice affects nursing student perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care. We also found that this effect was independent of gender. Nursing students should be holistic care providers. Integrating spirituality and spiritual care into the standard nursing curriculum is recommended to improve nursing care quality.

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