Spirituality and spiritual well-being among nursing students
1Associate Professor, Department of OBG Nursing, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church College of Nursing, Kolenchery, Kerala, India.
2Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, MOSC College of Nursing.
33rd Year BSc Nursing Students, MOSC College of Nursing.
*Corresponding Author E-mail: jishamaniacheri@gmail.com
Aim: A descriptive study was conducted to assess the spirituality and spiritual among nursing students in a selected college of nursing in Ernakulum District, Kerala. Background: Spirituality and spiritual care are of great importance as fundamental principles in health care. With the introduction of important changes in the health care system, nurses use the concept of holism in patient care and the spiritual aspect of health care is steadily gaining importance. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the health needs should include spiritual well-being in addition to physical, mental, and social domains .Spirituality is a positive dimension of the human being and care and might help patients reframe their experiences and condition of illness as well as find meaning in life and in that circumstance.Spiritual well being is one of a core human component that provides driving force to give person stability, meaning, and fulfillment in life, faith in self. The purpose of this study is to assess the spirituality, spiritual wellbeing and perception towards spiritual care among nursing students. Methods: A Descriptive analytical study was conducted among 129 BSc Nursing students studying in a Nursing College attached to a Medical College Hospital of South India during the month of December 2020.Convenience sampling technique was adopted for the study. Spirituality assessment scale and spiritual well being assessment scale were used to collect the data.Pilot study was conducted and the study was found to be feasible. Permission from the authorities was obtained and data collection was done. The data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics and R software used for the analysis. Results: The result revealed the mean score of spirituality and spiritual wellbeing as 84.40(SD+_8.45) and 65.81(SD+_6.09) respectively and a statistically significant strong positive correlation was found between spirituality and spiritual wellbeing with correlation coefficient ( r ) 0.806 at p value < 0.0001. Conclusion: Spirituality is a significant concept for the discipline of nursing with profound consequences for caring patients. Spirituality is an important aspect of holistic care This study identified that there is a strong relationship between spirituality and spiritual wellbeing.So this study convey the significance of spirituality and spiritual well being in holistic care.
KEYWORDS: Spirituality, Spiritual well being, Nursing students.
Spirituality plays an important role in health, particularly in times of crisis or severe illness, as it is foundational and links the bio-psycho-social dimensions as an integrated whole. 1 Spirituality is a positive dimension of the human being and care and might help patients reframe their experiences and condition of illness as well as find meaning in life in that circumstance. 2 Spiritual care, a central element of holistic and multidisciplinary care, is not often included into practice3. So the present study is very significant as it concentrate on the assessment of spirituality, and spiritual wellbeing among nursing students.
A Descriptive analytical study was conducted among 129 BSc Nursing students studying in a Nursing College attached to a Medical College Hospital of South India during the month of December 2020. The study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. Convenience sampling technique was adopted for the study. After obtaining informed consent data were collected from 3rd year and 4th year BSc Nursing students using Spirituality assessment scale and spiritual well being assessment scale.Data were analysed using R soft ware.
Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of subjects based on their demographic variables. n =129
|
Sl. No |
Variable |
Frequency (f) |
Percentage (%) |
|
1 |
Year of Study |
||
|
a) 3rd Year BSc |
70 |
54.26 % |
|
|
b) 4th year BSc |
59 |
45.74% |
|
|
2 |
Age |
||
|
c) 19-20yrs |
47 |
36.43 % |
|
|
d) 21-22yrs |
79 |
61.24% |
|
|
e) 23-24yrs |
3 |
2.33% |
|
|
3 |
Gender |
||
|
|
a) Male |
4 |
3.1% |
|
|
b) Female |
125 |
96.9 % |
|
4 |
Religion |
||
|
a) Christian |
107 |
82.95% |
|
|
b) Hindu |
15 |
11.63% |
|
|
c) Muslim |
7 |
5.43% |
|
|
5 |
Family History of Chronic illness |
||
|
a) Yes |
26 |
20.16% |
|
|
b) No |
103 |
79.84% |
|
The table 1 shows that majority of the subjects (54.2%) were 3rd years and the remaining were 4th years (45.74%).Majority (61.24%) belonged to the age group of 21 to 22 yrs followed by 36.43 % were in the age group of 19 to 20yrs and a very small percentage (2.33%) had 23 yrs of age. Most of the subjects (96.9 %) were females and majority (82.95%) belonged to Christian religion. With regard to the family, more than one third of subjects (79.84%) does not have any history of chronic illness
Table 2: Mean Score of spirituality and spiritual well-being among Nursing Students. n=129
|
Variables |
Mean |
SD |
|
Spirituality (Total Score 20-100) |
84.40 |
8.45 |
|
Spiritual Well being( Total Score 15-75) |
65.81 |
6.09 |
The table 2 shows that the mean score of Spirituality and Spiritual wellbeing as 84.40 (SD± 8.45) and 65.81(SD± 6.09) respectively.
Description of relationship between spirituality and spiritual well-being among nursing students.
Table 3: Correlation between spirituality and spiritual well-being among nursing students. n=129
|
Variables |
Correlation coefficient (r) |
P value |
|
Spirituality and Spiritual well-being |
0.806 |
p<0.0001* |
*Level of significance at p value < 0.05
The table 3 shows a statistically significant strong positive correlation between spirituality and spiritual well-being with correlation coefficient ( r ) 0.806 at p value <0.0001
Figure 1: A scatter diagram showing the relationship between spirituality and spiritual well being
The above scatter diagram shows a strong positive correlation between spirituality and spiritual well being.
In the present study the mean score of spirituality and spiritual well being were 84.40 (SD±8.45) and 65.81 (SD±6.09) respectively.
A similar study conducted among first year and fourth year nursing students in Iran found that the mean and standard deviation of spiritual well being and its subscales for first year and fourth year students were
65.58 (7.73) and 67.17 (6.55) respectively which indicated moderate level spiritual wellbeing among the students4. Findings of another study conducted in USA on spiritual perspectives of nursing students revealed high level of spirituality among subjects 5
In this study there is a strong positive correlation between spirituality and Spiritual well-being with coefficient (r) 0.806 at p value < 0.0001
Another descriptive correlational study was conducted among 185 elderly patients who were diagnosed with cancer at least 6-8 months in a major hospital in Tehran to assess the correlation between spiritual wellbeing with satisfaction with life a death anxiety among elders suffering from cancer. The Result showed that there is a positive significant relationship between spiritual wellbeing and life satisfaction in elders at p value 0.0016
An analytical descriptive study was conducted among 276 cancer patients receiving Chemotherapy to assess the association between spiritual intelligence and stress, anxiety and depression coping styles in patients. The result showed an inverse significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and stress (r=-0.268, p= 0.001)7
The present study identified a strong positive correlation between spirituality and spiritual well being.As spirituality is an important part of holistic care ,Spiritual well being of nurses are very important to provide spiritual care. Therefore, the present study recommends that necessary changes should be made in the nursing curriculum in order to equip the nurses to meet the holistic aspect of health care.
Here we extend our sincere thanks to all the nursing students who participated in the study.
The authors declare no conflict of interest in the study.
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Received on 13.05.2021 Modified on 17.06.2021
Accepted on 08.07.2021 © AandV Publications all right reserved
Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2021; 9(4):458-460.
DOI: 10.52711/2454-2660.2021.00105