Professional quality of life and perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care among nurses: Relationship and affecting factors

Purpose This study aims to determine the relationship of nurses' perception of spirituality and spiritual care to the dimensions of professional quality of life, namely, nurses' compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction, and identify the influencing factors, respectively. Design and methods The population consisted of 316 nurses (response rate: 91.32%) working in various clinics of a Training and Research Hospital (gynecology, pediatrics, surgery, internal medicine and emergency service) between December 2018 and May 2019. Data was collected through the Socio-Demographic Form, The Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL), and Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS). Findings A meaningful relationship between SSCRS and ProQOL's "burnout" and "compassion fatigue" subscales was granted (p < 0.001). In particular, the comparison of ProQOL subscales to SSCRS's "spirituality/spiritual care" and "religiosity" subscales revealed a negative and strong relationship (p < 0.01) while SSCRS's "personalized care" subscale yielded a very strong positive relationship (p < 0.001). The nurses' professional quality of life was affected by variables such as "monthly number of shifts," "manner of work," and "average weekly working hours." It was determined that burnout was experienced at a higher level, whereas compassion fatigue at a moderate level. In terms of spirituality and spiritual care, the subscale mean scores for "spirituality/spiritual care," "personalized care," and "religiosity" were low. Practice implications In light of the research findings, the charge nurses and nursing managers should oversee variables such as monthly income, monthly number of shifts, average weekly working hours at all times in the context of spiritual care and professional quality of life. Institution managers need to be competent in the prioritization of employee requests, planning the number of employees taking into account the ratio of nurse/patient/clinic capacity. Institution managers should familiarize themselves with notions such as compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction and spiritual care to plan and sustain the activities of the institution while overwatching the needs of her/his employees along the way. Nurses could also benefit from counseling services and in-service training programs contemplating sociodemographic and profession related variables that affect spiritual care and professional quality of life.