An exploration of the status of spiritual health among nursing students in Taiwan

Objective: Few studies have investigated the spiritual health of nursing students. The purpose of this study was to examine spiritual health in a group of senior nursing students in Taiwan, and to explore the factors that influenced the spiritual health of the group. Method: This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 1276 senior nursing students were selected using a probability-proportional-to-size (PPS) procedure, and were asked to complete a self-administrated questionnaire that included a spiritual health scale (SHS) and a demographic profile. Results: All study participants were female with an average age of 20.1 years, and most reported a religious affiliation and participation in religious activities. Their spiritual health was moderate; and generally the study metric "connection to others" was the highest factor, and the metric "religion attachment" was the lowest. Certain demographic characteristics, including age, education level, aboriginal characteristic, level of religious devotion, and family atmosphere were predictors of spiritual health. Conclusion: Nursing educators should be aware of the impact of spiritual health on nursing students, and should consider developing spiritual and religious education programs to enhance students' spiritual health and to nurture their ability to supply spiritual nursing care for patients. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.