Midwifery Students’ Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care: An Example from Western Turkey

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to explore Turkish midwifery students' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and to investigate the factors affecting them. Data were collected from 271 students of the Midwifery Department of the High School of Health of a state university in the west of Turkey using the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale. A significant difference was found between belief in the need for spiritual care and the practice of spiritual care during midwifery training and the total score on the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale, but no significant difference was found between the students' year of class, whether they had heard about spiritual care, and their state of knowledge concerning spiritual care. An increase in awareness, knowledge and skills relating to spirituality and spiritual care on the part of midwifery students, who are the midwives of the future, will allow students to provide spiritual care to their patients after they qualify. For this reason, the education program of midwifery students should be seen from a holistic standpoint in order to develop spiritual care.

Evaluation of Midwives’ Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Aydın, Turkey

“…Similarly, Wong et al, (2008) found in their research that younger nurses had low perception levels regarding spirituality and spiritual care. Also, Noble and Jones, (2010) indicated that older nurses with more clinical experience had a greater understanding of spirituality and spiritual care than those who were younger and had less experience (Mermer et al, 2019;Noble & Jones, 2010;Wong et al, 2008). Contrary to our results, however, Atarhim et al, (2019), Gönenç et al, (2016), Herlianita et al, (2018), Kaddourah et al, (2018), Melhem et al, (2016) and Kiaei et al, (2015) found no correlation between the age groups and the SSCRS mean scores.…”

“…The reason why the results of the studies conducted in different populations and cultures differ from each other may be due to the different perceptions of spiritual care and the needs of midwives and nurses. Moreover, in many studies conducted on student-midwives/nurses, it was indicated that students had a high perception of spirituality and spiritual care (Akın & Yılmaz, 2020;Dağhan, 2018;Kalkim et al, 2018;Mermer et al, 2019;Puente et al, 2015;Ross et al, 2018). This difference between professional-midwives/nursing and student-midwives/nursing can be interpreted as implying that students learned about spiritual care as part of their school programs; however, this knowledge was not sufficient in terms of applying it to their clinical practice, because spiritual education is an important factor that supports the development of spiritual caregiving competence.…”

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) asserts that health is a state of bio-psychosocial and mental wellbeing and that the most appropriate, acceptable, and comprehensive perspective to adopt in this context is the holistic approach (World Health Organization, 2015). This approach recognizes that an individual is a whole being with physical, mental, emotional, sociocultural, and spiritual aspects and that spirituality is as important as all other needs (Ercan et al, 2018;McSherry & Jamieson, 2011;Mermer et al, 2019;Puente et al, 2015).…”

Nursing students' spiritual caregiving status: Comparison of Western and Central Anatolia regions of Turkey

“…The form was developed by the researchers based on the relevant literature. [18][19][20] It had 24 questions about students' sociodemographic characteristics, such as age, sex, marital status, year of study, income level, family type, and awareness of spiritual care.…”

“…The literature includes various studies on nursing and midwifery students' perceptions and opinions about spirituality and spiritual care in Turkey and other countries. [18][19][20]…”