Competence in providing spiritual care and its relationship with spiritual well‑being among Iranian nurses

Competence in providing spiritual care to patients has become an increasingly important aspect of nursing care delivery. However, studies on nurses’ competence in spiritual care delivery and the factors affecting it are very limited. The present study was conducted to evaluate Iranian nurses’ competence in providing spiritual care and its relationship with their Spiritual Well‑Being.

The present study is descriptive‑analytical research conducted in Bam in the south of Iran between 2016 and 2017. All nurses working in the teaching hospitals affiliated with Bam University of Medical Sciences were invited to participate in the study. For data collection, the Spiritual Care Competence Scale (SCCS) and the Spiritual Well‑Being Scale (SWBS) were used. Collected data were then analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t‑test, and one‑way ANOVA with SPSS software.

In this study, 158 nurses were participated. The result showed that the mean score SCCS and SWBS were 101 ± 12.6, 76.92 ± 13.4, respectively. Pearson correlation test showed a significant and direct relationship between the mean score of SCCS and SWBS (P = 0.001, r = 0.264). The results of this test also showed a significant relationship between all the dimensions of SCCS and SWBS (P < 0.05).

In this study, the nurses had a relatively appropriate competence in providing spiritual care to patients. There was also a significant relationship between the nurses’ spiritual care competency and their spiritual well‑being. Given the lack of adequate studies in spiritual care delivery competencies, it is recommended that similar studies are conducted among nurses in other parts of the country and worldwide.