Teaching spirituality to student nurses

Abstract

Since Florence Nightingale, spiritual care has been embraced in professional nursing as the integration and promotion of purpose and meaning in life. Research reports that nurses have a prominent regard for spiritual care and acknowledge that it is part of their role. The intention of this literature review is to explore effective ways for nursing faculty to teach spiritual care. This in turn will help to advance spiritually educated nurses who can rise above obstacles to providing spiritual care to clients. During the nursing formation process, spiritual care must be integrated into the nursing curricula throughout the didactic and clinical nursing education. Numerous nurses today consider themselves underprepared to meet the spiritual needs of their clients, despite nursing's past dedication to spiritual care. Research further supports the appeal of clients to have their spiritual needs addressed while hospitalized. Given the suitable resources and education, nurses can be positioned to address the spiritual care of clients. Relevant nursing education on more effective ways to teach spiritual care will enhance the delivery of this vital aspect of holistic nursing. The focus of holistic patient care is based on the Neuman systems model, where the spiritual variable considerations are necessary for a truly holistic perspective and caring concern for the patient. As part of a successful pedagogy, a course of action and theory-based approach must be translated into preparing student nurses to incorporate spiritual care into their emerging practices.

Guidelines to Integrate Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Occupational Therapy Education: A Modified Delphi Study

“…These assessment strategies included: (1) portfolio of evidence, (2) assignment, (3) questionnaire, and (4) observational standardized practical evaluation. These results are consistent with those of Bennett and Thompson (2015), who suggested that elements of spirituality could be incorporated in assignments where students practice spiritual assessment in a safe and conducive environment.…”

“…In addition, self-reflection was considered as one of the important strategies in the educational guidelines. The teaching and learning strategies identified in the current study are consistent with those of previous studies that acknowledged drama, role playing, case study and discussion, searching databases and research analysis, self-reflection exercises, journaling, tutorial supervision, oral presentation about spirituality, group dynamics, and film and text analysis (Baldacchino, 2015;Bennett & Thompson, 2015;Caldeira et al, 2016;Mthembu et al, 2016). Additionally, Baldacchino (2015) described conceptual models, which may enhance learning about spirituality and spiritual care, such as Kolb's (1984) experiential learning theory, Gibbs' (1988) theory of reflective learning, and the ASSET model for Actioning Spirituality and Spiritual Care Education and Training in nursing (Narayanasamy, 1999).…”

“…A mixed-methods study by Morris and colleagues (2014) found that there was a gap among theory, education, and practice regarding the integration of spirituality in occupational therapy. These findings corroborate systematic reviews that highlighted a limited base of evidence on guidelines to integrate spirituality and spiritual care into health sciences education (Bennett & Thompson, 2015;Mthembu, Wegner, & Roman, 2016).…”

“…There are concerns about pedagogical approaches for teaching spirituality and spiritual care to health professionals (Baldacchino, 2015;Becker, 2009;Bennett & Thompson, 2015;Caldeira et al, 2016;Cruz, Alshammari, Alotaibi, & Colet, 2017); however, the modified Delphi study identified transformational learning as a useful imperative approach. For example, in discussing the importance of transformational learning, panel participants agreed that students should engage in dialogue about their understanding of spirituality as it incorporates cognitive and affective learning.…”

“…This educational guideline could be explained by the results of Bhagwan (2002), who reported that students need to be aware of their own spiritual and religious beliefs, practices, and experiences, as well as how it may influence their work with clients. Bennett and Thompson's (2015) systematic review added that students may need to have information about both spirituality and good communication skills.…”