Spirituality and spiritual care: a descriptive survey of nursing practices in Turkey.

Background: Nurses' spiritual care practices have been shown to affect patients' well-being, therefore understanding nurses' spiritual care perceptions and their practices. Aim: The aim of this paper is to investigate the nurses' views to practising spiritual care. Methods: A descriptive survey of 193 nurses was conducted at a general hospital in Turkey. Data was collected using a demographic questionnaire and The Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS). Findings: The findings of this study revealed that older nurses (p<.05); married (p<.001); higher levels of education (p<.05); work experience (p<.05); worked longer hours (p<.05); received education in spiritual care (p<.001); working in medical departments (p<.05) all tended to score higher on the SSCRS. Conclusion: Our research findings suggest that there is a lack of knowledge and general confusion regarding Turkish nurses perceptions and practices related to spiritual care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]