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This study explored how nurses' prayer beliefs and practices are associated with their offering to pray with patients. Participants (N = 423) completed an online survey. Those with higher prayer experience scores were 9% more likely to offer prayer to patients; those working in religious settings were 2.5 times more likely offer prayer to patients.

Aim: The aim of this study was to understand nurses' opinions about initiating spiritual or religious conversation during patient care and to measure how these perspectives are associated with demographic, religious and work-related characteristics., Background: Nurses are expected to provide spiritual care and do so in diverse ways. Little is known about how nurses think about initiating spiritual or religious discourse., Design: Cross-sectional, quantitative., Methods: Online survey methods allowed data collection from 445 nurses. The survey, accessed from the homepage of the Journal of Christian Nursing for 6 months beginning June 2015, included scales measuring various facets of religiosity, and items assessing nurse opinions about introducing spirituality or religion during patient care and demographic and work-related variables. Variables showing significant associations with Nurse Opinion items in bivariate analyses were examined using binary logistic regression., Results: About 90% of participants believed it appropriate to initiate conversation about spirituality/religion and nearly three-quarters thought it appropriate to self-disclose spirituality/religion or offer prayer under certain circumstances or anytime. All personal religiosity indicators except tentativeness of belief were found to be associated with responses to Nurse Opinion items. That is, higher religiosity was associated with opinion one could initiate such conversations, whereas lower religiosity was associated with waiting for patients to initiate. Nurses working in a faith-based organization were 276% more likely to believe they could initiate such conversation and 153% more likely to think they could initiate an offer of prayer., Conclusion: Nurse religiosity and work environment were associated with nurse opinions about initiating spiritual/religious discourse with patients., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aims and objectives: To compare the frequency of nurse‐provided spiritual care across diverse cultures. Background: Given an ethical imperative to respect patient spirituality and religiosity, nurses are increasingly taught and expected to provide spiritual care. Although nurses report positive attitudes toward spiritual care, they typically self‐report providing it infrequently. Evidence about the reported frequency of spiritual care is constrained by substantial variation in its measurement. Design: This cross‐sectional, descriptive study involved secondary analysis of data collected in multiple sites globally using one quantitative instrument. Methods: Data were collected from practicing nurses using the Nurse Spiritual Care Therapeutics Scale and analysed using descriptive statistics and a meta‐analysis procedure with random‐effect modelling. Datasets from 16 studies completed in Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Philippines, Portugal, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States contributed to a pooled sample (n = 4062). STROBE guidelines for cross‐sectional observational studies were observed. Results: Spiritual care varied between countries and within countries. It was slightly more frequent within Islamic cultures compared with predominantly Christian cultures. Likewise, frequency of spiritual care differed between nurses in palliative care, predominantly hospital/inpatient settings, and skilled nursing homes. Overall, "Remaining present..." was the most frequent therapeutic, whereas documenting spiritual care and making arrangements for the patient's clergy or a chaplain to visit were among the most infrequent therapeutics. Conclusions: In widely varying degrees of frequency, nurses around the world provide care that is cognisant of the spiritual and religious responses to living with health challenges. Future research should be designed to adjust for the multiple factors that may contribute to nurses providing spiritual care. Relevance to clinical practice: Findings offer a benchmark and begin to inform nurse leaders about what may be normative in practice. They also encourage nurses providing direct patient care that they are not alone and inform educators about what instruction future nurses require. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living with a terminal illness, whether as a patient or as the family member of a patient, often involves spiritual challenges. The ability to ascertain and meet the spiritual needs of terminally ill patients and their loved ones is an essential part of providing compassionate and competent whole person care. This study aimed to adapt the original Spiritual Interests Related to Illness Tool (SpIRIT) for use in Korea (SpIRIT-K) and to assess its reliability and validity as a tool to determine the spiritual needs of terminally ill Korean patients and their caregivers. After translation–back-translation and content validity indexing, SpIRIT-K was administered to 106 terminally ill patients and 105 family caregivers in 20 sites across South Korea. SPSS and AMOS were used for evaluating validity and reliability. The 37-item SpIRIT-K consisted of 8 factors (subscales), with each subscale consisting of between 3 and 8 items. Evidence for structural and convergent validity was observed. Internal reliability of the overall scale was 0.95. The findings showed patients and family caregivers reported no significant difference in 7 of the 8 subscales, demonstrating known-groups validity. The rigorous process of establishing cross-cultural validity for this scale provided evidence supporting its validity and reliability. The findings suggest that SpIRIT-K is suitable for research and for clinical purposes in palliative care settings in South Korea. This development also allows for comparisons between Korean and North American cultures in terms of spiritual needs among terminally ill patients and their caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about how nurses' personal spirituality and religious (S/R) beliefs impact their spiritual care of patients. An online survey was used to collect data from 445 nurses, assessing facets of religiosity, their opinions about introducing S/R during patient care, demographic, and work-related variables. Findings indicated that even in a sample of Christian nurses who scored high on religiousness measures, spiritual care is infrequent. Nurses' opinions about whether it was appropriate to initiate S/R conversation, self-disclosure, and prayer were associated with aspects of nurse religiosity. Nurses working in a faith-based organization were more likely to believe they could initiate S/R conversation and offer prayer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored how nurses' prayer beliefs and practices are associated with their offering to pray with patients. Participants (N = 423) completed an online survey. Those with higher prayer experience scores were 9% more likely to offer prayer to patients; those working in religious settings were 2.5 times more likely offer prayer to patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]