Page 97 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2021. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo / Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
P. 97
ses‘ perception of spiritual care in social welfare institutions psihologija / sociala in zdravje starejših odraslih | psychology / social and health of the elderly
Denis Bogdan1, Katarina Babnik2, Igor Karnjuš1
1 University of Primorska, Faculty of Health Sciences, Izola, Slovenia
2 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction. In planning holistic health and social care for an individual, the fo-
cus is on the physical, mental and social dimensions as well as the spiritual di-
mension of well-being in old age. Many authors state that nurses play one of
the most important roles in spiritual care. Therefore, the purpose of this pa-
per is to explore how nurses working in social welfare institutions perceive
spiritual care.
Methods. 214 nurses (nursing technicians and registered nurses) from 12 so-
cial welfare institutions in Slovenia participated in the study. A questionnaire
»Nurses’ perceptions about providing spiritual care« was used. This contains
23 statements consisting of six domains: i) Personal beliefs about religion/
spirituality, ii) Knowledge of the concepts of spirituality and religion, iii) Com-
fort level in discussing spiritual/religious issues with the patient, iv) Implemen-
tation of spiritual/religious interventions into practice, v) Support for spiritual/
religious interventions in practice, vi) Spirituality in nursing education program.
Individual statements were rated by respondents on a 5-point Likert scale (1 –
strongly disagree to 5 – strongly agree). We performed descriptive and infer-
ential statistics (Mann-Whitney U and Spearman correlation coefficient). Val-
ues of p <0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results. Nurses believe they are fairly familiar with the concepts of spiritual-
ity and religion (x̄ =3.78, s=0.67), but emphasize that the concept of spiritual-
ity and spiritual care is rather poorly represented in formal nursing educa-
tion programs (x̄ =2.76, s=0.89). Personal beliefs about spirituality correlate
positively and statistically significantly especially with knowledge of the con-
cepts of spirituality and religion (r=0.645, p<0.001), comfort level in discuss-
ing spiritual/religious issues with patients (r=0.559, p=<0.001), and implemen-
tation of spiritual/religious interventions in daily practice (r=0.551, p=<0.001).
Compared to men, women are more familiar with the concepts of spirituality
and religion (U= 1885.000; p<0.001), implement spiritual care interventions in
daily practice to a greater extent (U= 2191.500; p=0,008) and regularly discuss
the spiritual needs of their patients within the health care team (U= 2100.500;
p=0,002).
Discussion and conclusions. Nurses perceive spiritual care as an important ele-
ment of care when working with patients in social welfare institutions. How-
ever, this area is somewhat neglected in formal nursing education. Research
has shown that perceptions of spiritual care are largely influenced by gender
and personal beliefs about religion/spirituality. Designing additional educa-
tional programs and raising awareness among health professionals could help
strengthen the spiritual aspect of care, as previous research confirms the im-
portance of this dimension to patient health and well-being.
Keywords: spirituality, spiritual care, elderly people, nursing home, nurse
95
Denis Bogdan1, Katarina Babnik2, Igor Karnjuš1
1 University of Primorska, Faculty of Health Sciences, Izola, Slovenia
2 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction. In planning holistic health and social care for an individual, the fo-
cus is on the physical, mental and social dimensions as well as the spiritual di-
mension of well-being in old age. Many authors state that nurses play one of
the most important roles in spiritual care. Therefore, the purpose of this pa-
per is to explore how nurses working in social welfare institutions perceive
spiritual care.
Methods. 214 nurses (nursing technicians and registered nurses) from 12 so-
cial welfare institutions in Slovenia participated in the study. A questionnaire
»Nurses’ perceptions about providing spiritual care« was used. This contains
23 statements consisting of six domains: i) Personal beliefs about religion/
spirituality, ii) Knowledge of the concepts of spirituality and religion, iii) Com-
fort level in discussing spiritual/religious issues with the patient, iv) Implemen-
tation of spiritual/religious interventions into practice, v) Support for spiritual/
religious interventions in practice, vi) Spirituality in nursing education program.
Individual statements were rated by respondents on a 5-point Likert scale (1 –
strongly disagree to 5 – strongly agree). We performed descriptive and infer-
ential statistics (Mann-Whitney U and Spearman correlation coefficient). Val-
ues of p <0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results. Nurses believe they are fairly familiar with the concepts of spiritual-
ity and religion (x̄ =3.78, s=0.67), but emphasize that the concept of spiritual-
ity and spiritual care is rather poorly represented in formal nursing educa-
tion programs (x̄ =2.76, s=0.89). Personal beliefs about spirituality correlate
positively and statistically significantly especially with knowledge of the con-
cepts of spirituality and religion (r=0.645, p<0.001), comfort level in discuss-
ing spiritual/religious issues with patients (r=0.559, p=<0.001), and implemen-
tation of spiritual/religious interventions in daily practice (r=0.551, p=<0.001).
Compared to men, women are more familiar with the concepts of spirituality
and religion (U= 1885.000; p<0.001), implement spiritual care interventions in
daily practice to a greater extent (U= 2191.500; p=0,008) and regularly discuss
the spiritual needs of their patients within the health care team (U= 2100.500;
p=0,002).
Discussion and conclusions. Nurses perceive spiritual care as an important ele-
ment of care when working with patients in social welfare institutions. How-
ever, this area is somewhat neglected in formal nursing education. Research
has shown that perceptions of spiritual care are largely influenced by gender
and personal beliefs about religion/spirituality. Designing additional educa-
tional programs and raising awareness among health professionals could help
strengthen the spiritual aspect of care, as previous research confirms the im-
portance of this dimension to patient health and well-being.
Keywords: spirituality, spiritual care, elderly people, nursing home, nurse
95
