The development of nursing students' spirituality and spiritual care-giving

Nursing education programs are being increasingly challenged to incorporate spirituality and spiritual care-giving into the curriculum. The purposes of this study were to explore how students in a baccalaureate curriculum perceived their spirituality and spiritual health, and their perceptions of spiritual nursing care. Students in the first and fourth years of the program filled out a survey that included a spiritual well-being scale and several open-ended questions. Overall, students had a strong awareness of personal spirituality and a high level of spiritual health. They identified a number of behaviours and characteristics of the nurse that facilitated spiritual nursing care. Fourth year students demonstrated a more patient-centered approach to spiritual care. They placed less emphasis on the nurse's agenda and qualities and more on supporting the patient's beliefs. (C) 2002, Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.