Nursing Students' Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care and Their Spiritual Care Competencies: A Correlational Research Study

This research aimed to describe nursing students' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and their spiritual care competencies and to investigate the relationship between these variables. The sample of this descriptive and correlational study consisted of 325 nursing students. The questionnaires used in the study were the Student Nurse Information Form, the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale, and the Spiritual Care Competency Scale. The mean scores of the Turkish versions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale and Spiritual Care Competency Scale were 3.90 +/- 0.45 and 3.69 +/- 0.68. Importance to giving spiritual care to the patients in nursing care, willingness to receive training in spiritual care, and listening to patients to meet their spiritual requirements accounted for 17% of the spirituality and spiritual care perceptions of the students (F = 16.118, P = .001, R-2 = 0.17). The participants' spirituality and spiritual care perception levels accounted for 14% of their spiritual care competences (F = 16.851, P = .001, R-2 = 0.14). It was determined that the students' perceptions of spiritual care competence were not at the desired level and that they should be improved. Therefore, it is recommended that changes should be made in the curricula and that training programs should be improved in order to strengthen students' spiritual care competency.