Spirtual care in nursing - Article Example

Spiritual Care in Nursing Spirituality is a part of professional nursing. According to Allen S, and Smith in their journal article, Nurses’ experiences assessing the spirituality of terminally ill patients in acute clinical practice. The study had two major goals: to identify and describe the concept of spirituality held by nurses in an acute setting and to explore the idea of spirituality as it applies to the nurses.The study adopted two-phase, mixed methods and an explanatory descriptive study design.

Phase 1 used a questionnaire to obtain demographic information about the members and their knowledge about spirituality. In phase 2, they used unstructured focus group interviews to allow the participants to expand on their responses from the questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated by a multidisciplinary palliative care committee, who deemed it appropriate for use. Allen S. and smith maintained a clear audit trail through the journaling technique. There was a correlation between the questionnaire and the focus group data.

Ethics approval consent was sought from the University Ethics Committee. Permission was also granted from the hospital’s ethics committee in the rural facility. In addition, the participants were assured of independence and confidentiality, and they gave a written consent.In the analysis and discussion of the results four major themes emerged: understanding spirituality, assessment of spirituality, difficulties and education. Also, study limitations emerged. A focus group interview was not appropriate data collection method to use in the study.

This was evident from the responses in the focus groups that the meaning of spirituality was inconsistent based on the individual understanding and belief. Also, the questionnaire did not provide an opportunity to give examples of spiritual care. According to the journal article, it is important for the health workers to realize the spirituality as an important component in delivering nursing care in any setting.ReferencesSmyth, T, & Allen, S 2011, Nurses experiences assessing the spirituality of terminally ill patients in acute clinical practice, International Journal Of Palliative Nursing, 17, 7, pp.

337-343, Consumer Health Complete - EBSCOhost, EBSCOhost, viewed 15 March 2014.