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Abstract: Nurse-provided spiritual care includes support of patient spiritual practices such as prayer. However, limited evidence exists about how nurses respond when a patient requests prayer. A subsample of nurses (n = 381) from a larger study responded to two open-ended questions in an online survey in response to a prayer scenario. Among these mostly Christian nurses, 97% indicated willingness to pray. Content analysis revealed a five-component structure for praying: Open, Set the Stage, Request, Wrap-up, Close. The structure provides a template for future research and nurse prayer in clinical contexts., (Copyright © 2023 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.)

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.

This study measured the frequency of nurse-provided spiritual care and how it is associated with various facets of nurse religiosity. Data were collected using an online survey accessed from the home page of the Journal of Christian Nursing. The survey included the Nurse Spiritual Care Therapeutics Scale, six scales quantifying facets of religiosity, and demographic and work-related items. Respondents ( N = 358) indicated high religiosity yet reported neutral responses to items about sharing personal beliefs and tentativeness of belief. Findings suggested spiritual care was infrequent. Multivariate analysis showed prayer frequency, employer support of spiritual care, and non-White ethnicity were significantly associated with spiritual care frequency (adjusted R 2 = .10). Results not only provide an indication of spiritual care frequency but empirical encouragement for nurse managers to provide a supportive environment for spiritual care. Findings expose the reality that nurse religiosity is directly related, albeit weakly, to spiritual care frequency.

Many nurses embrace spiritual care as integral to holistic care. Evidence documenting the frequency of spiritual care provided in acute care settings, however, is sparse and weak. For this cross-sectional, correlational study, data were collected from N = 554 tertiary care nurses using the Nurse Spiritual Care Therapeutics Scale (NSCTS) measuring their self-reported spiritual care with patients/family members over the last 72 to 80 hours at work. While the most frequently endorsed practices centered on presence, listening, and spiritual assessment, the overall NSCTS score remained modest ( M = 37; SD = 12; possible range = 17-85). Several associations were found; 32.4% of the variance in frequency of spiritual care provision was explained by nurse perception that spiritual issues come up often in the work setting, high nurse spirituality score, not working in pediatrics, and having received education about spiritual care. Findings allow for benchmarking of nursing practices that have often been invisible.

Purpose: To explore palliative care and oncology clinicians' perspectives on current challenges and facilitating factors in meeting the spiritual needs of patients with lung cancer and family caregivers. This study was conducted in preparation for a community-based lung cancer palliative care intervention., Participants & Setting: 19 oncology and palliative care clinicians in three outpatient Kaiser Permanente sites in southern California., Methodologic Approach: This multisite qualitative study used focus group and key informant interviews. Data were analyzed using content analysis methodology, and a team approach was used to validate findings., Findings: Clinicians described facilitating factors (interprofessional team support, assessment of spiritual needs, clinician-provided spiritual support, and provision of culturally respectful spiritual care) and challenges (related to providing culturally respectful spiritual care by respecting the patients' spiritual and cultural beliefs in an open way and in advocating for the patients' wishes) they encountered when addressing patient and caregiver spiritual needs., Implications for Nursing: This study demonstrated the need to provide nurses with practical tools, education, and a supportive environment to address patients' and family caregivers' spiritual concerns.

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.)

Aim: To describe how frequently RNs provide 17 spiritual care therapeutics (or interventions) during a 72-80h timeframe., Background: Plagued by conceptual muddiness as well as weak methods, research quantifying the frequency of spiritual care is not only methodologically limited, but also sparse., Methods: Secondary analysis of data from four studies that used the Nurse Spiritual Care Therapeutics Scale (NSCTS). Data from US American RNs who responded to online surveys about spiritual care were analyzed. The four studies included intensive care unit nurses in Ohio (n=93), hospice and palliative care nurses across the US (n=104), nurses employed in a Christian health care system (n=554), and nurses responding to an invitation to participate found on a journal website (n=279)., Results: The NSCTS mean of 38 (with a range from 17 to 79 [of 85 possible]) suggested respondents include spiritual care therapeutics infrequently in their nursing care. Particularly concerning is the finding that 17-33% (depending on NSCTS item) never completed a spiritual screening during the timeframe. "Remaining present just to show caring" was the most frequent therapeutic (3.4 on a 5-point scale); those who practiced presence at least 12 times during the timeframe provided other spiritual care therapeutics more frequently than those who offered presence less frequently., Conclusion: Findings affirm previous research that suggests nurses provide spiritual care infrequently. These findings likely provide the strongest evidence yet for the need to improve spiritual care education and support for nurses., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This secondary analysis of data from 200 practicing registered nurses' and student nurses' responses to 3 vignettes depicting patient spiritual distress were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively (using the Empathic Response Scale). Findings showed wide variation in these nurses' ability to respond empathically; while some responses would be healing, others were potentially hurtful.

Aim and Objectives: This study investigated the efficacy of a self study programme designed to teach nurses about how to talk with patients about spirituality, and to identify factors predicting this learning. Furthermore, the study investigated whether there were differences in learning between students and practicing clinicians, and between those in a religious or non-religious institution., Background: Although USA and UK accrediting bodies mandate nurses learn how to assess and support patient spiritual health, there is a paucity of evidence to guide educators regarding how to teach spiritual care to nurses. Indeed, it is unknown if aspects of spiritual care can be taught using formal approaches., Design: A pretest-posttest pre-experimental design was used to study how attitude toward spiritual care, ability to create empathic verbal responses to expressed spiritual pain, personal spiritual experience, and knowledge about communication for spiritual caregiving changed from before to after programme completion., Methods: Study participants, 201 nursing students and RNs, independently completed the mailed self-study programme (i.e. workbook with supplemental DVD) and self-report study instruments (i.e. Daily Spiritual Experience Scale, Spiritual Care Perspective Scale-Revised, Response Empathy Scale, Communicating for Spiritual Care Test, and Information about You form)., Results: Significant differences were seen between the before and after scores measuring attitude, ability, spiritual experience, and knowledge. An interaction effect of time between students and registered nurses for both spiritual care attitude and personal spiritual experience was observed., Conclusions: Findings suggest learning occurred for both students and RNs, regardless of whether they were at a religious institution or not. Relevance to clinical practice. These data indicate that this self-study programme was an effective approach to teach nurses about how to converse with patients about spirituality.

Aim: This paper presents findings from a study that was designed to understand, from the perspective of cancer patients and their family caregivers, what spiritual care is wanted from nurses., Background: Distressing and transformative spiritual responses to living with cancer have been documented. Although there is momentum for providing spiritual care, previous research provides scanty and conflicting evidence about what are the clients' wishes or preferences with regard to receiving spiritual care from nurses., Methods: A convenience sample of 156 adult cancer patients and 68 primary family caregivers, most of whom were Christians, independently completed the Spiritual Interests Related to Illness Scale and a demographic form, both of which were self-completed questionnaires., Results: A variation in responses to items about nurses providing spiritual care therapeutics was observed; means and medians for these items mostly fell between 2 (disagree) and 3 (agree) on a scale of 1-4. Generally, therapeutics that were less intimate, commonly used, and not overtly religious were most welcomed. No significant differences were found between patient and caregiver preferences. A modest, direct correlation was observed between frequency of attendance at religious services and increased preference for nurse spiritual care., Conclusion: For both patients and caregivers, nurses must be sensitive to providing spiritual nurture in ways that are welcomed.

Aims and objectives: This study aimed to measure the frequency of spiritual needs, identify the factors associated with these needs among Korean and American persons living with an advance chronic illness and compare them from a cross‐cultural perspective. Background: Persons with serious or life‐limiting illnesses often have spiritual needs. Unmet spiritual needs are associated with poor well‐being and threaten psychological health. Little is known about how specific spiritual needs vary across cultures. Design: A quantitative, cross‐sectional, observational cross‐cultural comparison was undertaken. Methods: The study has been prepared in accordance with the STROBE guidelines. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from outpatient clinics in South Korea and Southern California (N = 202). Spiritual needs were measured using the Spiritual Interests Related to Illness Tool (SpIRIT); demographic and illness‐related variables were also assessed using paper‐and‐pencil questionnaires. Data were analysed using various parametric statistical tests, including multiple regression analysis. Results: The findings quantify the intensity and types of spiritual needs that persons living with an advanced chronic illness experience. Furthermore, they show how the spiritual needs of religiously diverse samples of South Koreans and Americans differ. The findings also indicate that self‐reported spirituality and religiosity independently explain a substantial amount of the variance in spiritual needs. Conclusions: In both the samples, spiritual needs were reported and associated with spirituality and religiosity. Although all the eight domains of spiritual needs assessed by the SpIRIT were pertinent to the Korean and American samples, they were prioritised differently. Relevance to clinical practice: Screening patients to ascertain how important spirituality or religiosity is to them may help clinicians focus their in‐depth assessments on those who report high levels of spirituality or religiosity because these patients may experience the strongest spiritual needs. The SpIRIT shows promise as a measure of diverse spiritual needs. [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]

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]

Despite significant progress in implementing palliative care interventions for patients with cancer, few intervention studies seek health care clinicians' input before implementation of these into the community. The purpose of this study was to explore palliative care and oncology clinicians' perspectives on the perceived facilitators and challenges in meeting the quality-of-life needs of patientswith lung cancer and family caregivers in community-based settings. The Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance model for implementation research was used as a framework. This was amultisite qualitative study using focus group and key informant interviews. Nineteen clinicians addressed useful practices and challenges in the following areas: (a)early palliative care, (b) interdisciplinary care planning, (c) symptom management, (d) addressing psychological and social needs, and (e) providing culturally respectful care, including spiritual care. In preparation for the intervention, specific education needs and organizational challenges were revealed. Challenges included timing and staffing constraints, the need for clinician education on palliative care services to increase organizational buy-in, and education in providing spiritual support for patients and family caregivers. This research allowed investigators to understand perceptions of clinicians as they prepared to integrate palliative care in their settings. Hospice and palliative care nurses can be instrumental in implementing palliative care into community practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To describe how frequently RNs provide 17 spiritual care therapeutics (or interventions) during a 72-80 h timeframe. Background: Plagued by conceptual muddiness as well as weak methods, research quantifying the frequency of spiritual care is not only methodologically limited, but also sparse. Methods: Secondary analysis of data from four studies that used the Nurse Spiritual Care Therapeutics Scale (NSCTS). Data from US American RNs who responded to online surveys about spiritual care were analyzed. The four studies included intensive care unit nurses in Ohio (n = 93), hospice and palliative care nurses across the US (n = 104), nurses employed in a Christian health care system (n = 554), and nurses responding to an invitation to participate found on a journal website (n = 279). Results: The NSCTS mean of 38 (with a range from 17 to 79 [of 85 possible]) suggested respondents include spiritual care therapeutics infrequently in their nursing care. Particularly concerning is the finding that 17-33% (depending on NSCTS item) never completed a spiritual screening during the timeframe. "Remaining present just to show caring" was the most frequent therapeutic (3.4 on a 5-point scale); those who practiced presence at least 12 times during the timeframe provided other spiritual care therapeutics more frequently than those who offered presence less frequently. Conclusion: Findings affirm previous research that suggests nurses provide spiritual care infrequently. These findings likely provide the strongest evidence yet for the need to improve spiritual care education and support for nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]