Association between spiritual care competency and perceived professional benefit among nurses: A cross-sectional study

Aims This study aimed to investigate the status quo of nurses' spiritual care competency and their relationship with perceived professional benefit. Background Spiritual care has always been considered a vitally important part of holistic nursing. Understanding the spiritual care competency of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic can help nursing managers understand the weak links in spiritual care practice and improve the quality of nursing service. As a positive emotional experience and cognitive evaluation of the profession, perceived professional benefit can serve to adjust work pressure, relieve job burnout and promote an individual's overall growth. However, the relationship between perceived professional benefit among nurses and spiritual care competency remains unclear. Methods A total of 372 nurses were recruited from 15 separate Chinese hospitals. An online questionnaire was used to assess nurses' sociodemographic, spiritual care competency and perceived professional benefit. Statistical analyses were performed using Pearson's correlation analysis, t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple stepwise linear regression analysis. Results The total mean score of spiritual care competency (99.43 +/- 21.10) among nurses was found to be moderate. Nurses' spiritual care competency was positively correlated with perceived professional benefit (P < .01). The multiple stepwise linear regression model (n = 372) had an explained variance (R-2 = 0.218) and showed that perceived professional benefit and the manner of receiving spiritual training were the main influencing factors of nurses' spiritual care competency (P < .001). Conclusion The study findings indicated that nurses need to improve their spiritual care competency by improving their perceived professional benefit. Implication for nursing managers Our study evaluated the spiritual care competency of nurses and explored the correlation between perceived professional benefit and spiritual care competency among nurses. The results of this study can help nursing managers to carry out relevant interventions, thus improving nurses' spiritual care competency and optimizing the quality of nursing.