skip to main content

Spiritual Care Competence among Malaysian Staff Nurses

*Ali H. Abusafia orcid scopus  -  Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Zakira Mamat  -  Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Nur Syahmina Rasudin  -  Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Mujahid Bakar  -  Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Rohani Ismail  -  Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Open Access Copyright (c) 2021 Nurse Media Journal of Nursing
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Citation Format:
Abstract

Background: Perceptions and levels of understanding of spiritual care vary among nurses, which may affect their competency to meet the patient’s spiritual needs. Therefore, determining nurses' perception of spiritual care is the first important step in addressing the spiritual needs of patients, and may also help nursing management in developing spiritual care education and training programs.
Purpose: This study aimed to assess the competence of Malaysian nurses toward providing spiritual care and identify the relationship between nurses’ spiritual care competence and their sociodemographic factors.
Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional design to assess nurses' competence in spiritual care by using a simple random sampling method which involved 271 staff nurses from a public hospital in Northeast of Peninsular Malaysia. Spiritual care competence scale in Bahasa Malaysia version was used for data collection. Data analysis was performed using descriptive (frequency, percent, mean, standard deviation) and inferential (Chi-square and Pearson’s correlation test) statistics.
Results: This study showed that 69.7% of staff nurses had an average level of competence toward providing spiritual care for the patients (M=95.44, SD=4.34). The highest mean difference among the domains was personal support and patients counseling (MD=5.789), while the lowest mean difference was assessment and implementation of spiritual care (MD=1.258). Furthermore, there was no significant relationship between spiritual care competence and sociodemographic factors (gender, age, marital status, educational level, nurses' experience, race, religion, and previous participation in training spiritual care programs).
Conclusion: The majority of nurses have an average level of competence toward providing spiritual care. There is no significant relationship between nurses’ spiritual care competence and sociodemographic factors.

Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: Competence; Malaysia; nurses; spiritual care

Article Metrics:

  1. Abell, C. H., Garrett-Wright, D., & Abell, C. E. (2018). Nurses’ perceptions of competence in providing spiritual care. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 36(1), 33-37. https://doi.org10.1177/0898010116684960
  2. Abusafia, A. H., Mamat, Z., Rasudin, N. S., Bakar, M., & Ismail, R. (2020). The spiritual care competence scale: A confirmatory study of the Malay language version. Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, 14(4), 4407-4414. https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v14i4.12334
  3. Alliance, W. P. C., & Organization, W. H. (2014). Global atlas of palliative care at the end of life. Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance. https://www.who.int/cancer/publications/palliative-care-atlas/en/
  4. Atarhim, M. A., Lee, S., & Copnell, B. (2019). An exploratory study of spirituality and spiritual care among Malaysian nurses. Journal of Religion and Health, 58(1), 180-194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0624-0
  5. Caldeira, S., Carvalho, E. C., & Vieira, M. (2013). Spiritual distress—Proposing a new definition and defining characteristics. International Journal of Nursing Knowledge, 24(2), 77-84. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2047-3095.2013.01234.x
  6. Chen, M.-L., Chen, Y.-H., Lin, L.-C., & Chuang, L.-L. (2020). Factors influencing the self-perceived competencies in spiritual care of nurses in the long-term care facilities. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(6), 1286-1294. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13080
  7. Ebrahimi, H., Areshtanab, H. N., Jafarabadi, M. A., & Khanmiri, S. G. (2017). Health care providers' perception of their competence in providing spiritual care for patients. Indian Journal of Palliative Care, 23(1), 57-61. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1075.197957
  8. Gallison, B., Xu, Y., Jurgens, C., & Boyle, S. (2012). Acute care nurses' spiritual care practices. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898010112464121
  9. Gore, J. D. (2013). Providing holistic and spiritual nursing care [Master’s thesis, Liberty University]. Lynchburg, VA. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/370/
  10. Hellman, A. N., Williams, W. E., & Hurley, S. (2015). Meeting spiritual needs: A study using the spiritual care competence scale. Journal of Christian Nursing, 32(4), 236-241
  11. Herlianita, R., Yen, M., Chen, C.-H., Fetzer, S. J., & Lin, E. C.-L. (2018). Perception of spirituality and spiritual care among Muslim nurses in Indonesia. Journal of Religion and Health, 57(2), 762-773. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0437-6
  12. Hsieh, S.-I., Hsu, L.-L., Kao, C.-Y., Breckenridge-Sproat, S., Lin, H.-L., Tai, H.-C., Huang, T.-H., & Chu, T.-L. (2020). Factors associated with spiritual care competencies in Taiwan's clinical nurses: A descriptive correlational study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(9-10), 1599-1613. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15141
  13. Jafari, M., Sabzevari, S., Borhani, F., & Baneshi, M. (2016). Nurses and nursing students views on spiritual care in Kerman Medical University. Medical Ethics Journal, 6(20), 155-171
  14. Jahandideh, S., Zare, A., Kendall, E., & Jahandideh, M. (2018). Nurses’ spiritual well-being and patients’ spiritual care in Iran. COJ Nursing & Healthcare, 1(3), 74-78. https://doi.org/10.31031/COJNH.2018.01.000514
  15. Kourkouta, L., & Papathanasiou, I. V. (2014). Communication in nursing practice. Materia Socio-Medica, 26(1), 65-67. https://doi.org/10.5455/msm.2014.26.65-67
  16. Lalani, N. (2020). Meanings and interpretations of spirituality in nursing and health. Religions, 11(9), 428. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090428
  17. Lee, S. E., Lee, M. H., Peters, A. B., & Gwon, S. H. (2020). Assessment of patient safety and cultural competencies among senior baccalaureate nursing students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(12), 4225
  18. McSherry, W., Gretton, M., Draper, P., & Watson, R. (2008). The ethical basis of teaching spirituality and spiritual care: A survey of student nurses perceptions. Nurse Education Today, 28(8), 1002-1008. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2008.05.013
  19. McSherry, W., & Jamieson, S. (2011). An online survey of nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 20(11‐12), 1757-1767. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03547.x
  20. Melhem, G. A. B., Zeilani, R. S., Zaqqout, O. A., Aljwad, A. I., Shawagfeh, M. Q., & Al-Rahim, M. A. (2016). Nurses' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care giving: A comparison study among all health care sectors in Jordan. Indian Journal of Palliative Care, 22(1), 42-49. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1075.173949
  21. Nagase, M. (2012). Does a multi-dimensional concept of health include spirituality? Analysis of Japan health science council’s discussions on WHO’s ‘definition of health’ (1998). International Journal of Applied Sociology, 2, 71-77. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ijas.20120206.03
  22. O'brien, M. R., Kinloch, K., Groves, K. E., & Jack, B. A. (2019). Meeting patients’ spiritual needs during end‐of‐life care: A qualitative study of nurses’ and healthcare professionals’ perceptions of spiritual care training. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(1-2), 182-189. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14648
  23. Paal, P., Leget, C., & Goodhead, A. (2015). Spiritual care education: Results from an EAPC survey. European Journal of Palliative Care, 22, 91-95
  24. Petersen, C. L., Callahan, M. F., McCarthy, D. O., Hughes, R. G., White-Traut, R., & Bansal, N. K. (2017). An online educational program improves pediatric oncology nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and spiritual care competence. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 34(2), 130-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043454216646542
  25. Ramalu, S. S., & Subramaniam, C. (2019). Cultural intelligence and work engagement of expatriate academics: The role of psychological needs satisfaction. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 19(1), 7-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470595819827992
  26. Raosoft, I. (2004). Raosoft sample size calculator. http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html
  27. Rushton, L. (2014). What are the barriers to spiritual care in a hospital setting? British Journal of Nursing, 23(7), 370-374. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2014.23.7.370
  28. Schneider, K. (2019). What does competence mean? Psychology, 10(14), 1938. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2019.1014125
  29. Sharifi, N., Adib-Hajbaghery, M., & Najafi, M. (2019). Cultural competence in nursing: A concept analysis. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 99, 103386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.103386
  30. Timmins, F., & McSherry, W. (2012). Spirituality: the Holy Grail of contemporary nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(8), 951-957. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12038
  31. van Leeuwen, R. (2009). Towards nursing competencies in spiritual care. Studies in Spirituality, 19, 249
  32. van Leeuwen, R., & Schep-Akkerman, A. (2015). Nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care in different health care settings in the Netherlands. Religions, 6(4), 1346-1357. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6041346
  33. van Leeuwen, R., Tiesinga, L. J., Middel, B., Post, D., & Jochemsen, H. (2009). The validity and reliability of an instrument to assess nursing competencies in spiritual care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(20), 2857-2869. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02594.x
  34. Veloza, M., Rodríguez, L., Guevara-Armenta, C., & Mesa-Rodríguez, S. (2016). The importance of spiritual care in nursing practice. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898010115626777
  35. Vogel, A., & Schep-Akkerman, A. E. (2018). Competence and frequency of provision of spiritual care by nurses in the Netherlands. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 32(4), 1314-1321. https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12575
  36. White, D. M., & Hand, M. (2017). Spiritual nursing care education an integrated strategy for teaching students. Journal of Christian Nursing, 34(3), 170-175. https://doi.org/10.1097/cnj.0000000000000395
  37. Wu, L. F., Tseng, H. C., & Liao, Y. C. (2016). Nurse education and willingness to provide spiritual care. Nurse Education Today, 38, 36-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2016.01.001
  38. Yousefi, H., & Abedi, H. A. (2011). Spiritual care in hospitalized patients. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 16(1), 125-132
  39. Zehtab, S., & Adib-Hajbaghery, M. (2014). The importance of spiritual care in nursing. Nursing and Midwifery Studies, 3(3), e22261

Last update:

  1. The level of spiritual care competence of Polish nurses and the psychometric properties of the spiritual care competence scale (SCCS)

    Michał Machul, René van Leeuwen, Dorota Ozga, Krzysztof Jurek, Sylwia Boczkowska, Beata Dobrowolska. BMC Nursing, 21 (1), 2022. doi: 10.1186/s12912-022-00889-z
  2. Correlation of nurses’ perception of spirituality and spiritual care with spiritual care practices in Indonesia: A cross-sectional survey

    Afiska Elsa Baguna, Cynthia Yohana Magdasutry Pandeirot, Juniarta, Novita Susilawati Barus. Belitung Nursing Journal, 10 (5), 2024. doi: 10.33546/bnj.3467
  3. Student nurses' spiritual care competence and attitude: An online survey

    Zhihua Guo, Yan Zhang, Pan Li, Qianyou Zhang, Chunhong Shi. Nursing Open, 10 (3), 2023. doi: 10.1002/nop2.1441
  4. Dissemination of the Spiritual Care Competence Scale (SCCS)

    René van Leeuwen, Annemiek E. Schep-Akkerman. Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 14 (1), 2024. doi: 10.1080/20440243.2024.2329560
  5. Readiness of Undergraduate Nursing Students at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuantan, Pahang in Delivering Spiritual Care to Hospitalized Patient

    Siti Nur Illiani Jaafar, Amiesha Iz’aan Norazaman, Wan Hasliza Wan Mamat. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CARE SCHOLARS, 7 (3), 2024. doi: 10.31436/ijcs.v7i3.396
  6. How emotional contagion shapes spiritual care competence: Insights from a cross‐sectional study on intensive care nurses

    Sevgi Koroglu, Emine Öksüz. Nursing in Critical Care, 29 (6), 2024. doi: 10.1111/nicc.13160
  7. Nurse’s spiritual care competence in Ethiopia: A multicenter cross-sectional study

    Kalid Seid, Adem Abdo, Luigi Lavorgna. PLOS ONE, 17 (3), 2022. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265205

Last update: 2024-12-26 15:38:34

No citation recorded.