Spiritual caring in nursing.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Date: 01 September 2012
• Author: Ronaldson, Sue

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Over recent years there has been an expanding body of scholarship and research internationally on spiritual caring in nursing.

This body of knowledge is growing and there are areas worthy of investigation. In particular, to what degree does the environment in which nurses practice influence their spiritual caring? Two very different clinical environments were chosen for a recent Australian study: one curative care, the other palliative. This comparative research study on spiritual caring by acute care and palliative care registered nurses (RNs) was published recently in the International Journol of Clinical Nursing.

Ninety-two RNs from seven metropolitan Sydney health services (hospital and community), both public and private, participated in the study. The research compared the two clinical environments to determine whether:

* there were any differences in demographics and characteristics of the two RN groups that they then brought to their clinical practice; and

* the clinical environments presented any barriers to spiritual caring for nurses.

Findings

The study found years of experience or...