Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Award Date

2019

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department / School

Graduate Nursing

First Advisor

Mary Minton

Keywords

Holistic Nursing Care, Mixed Method, Nursing Students, Religiosity, Spiritual Care, Spirituality

Abstract

Objective. The objective of this study was to explore nursing students’ spirituality, religiosity, and perceived ability to provide spiritual care. Background. Nursing students must be prepared to respond to a patient’s spiritual needs. A gap in knowledge exists as to the educational preparedness necessary to provide a nursing student with the ability to respond to a patient’s spiritual need. To address the gap, this study explored the relationships between nursing students’ spirituality, religiosity, and perceived ability to provide spiritual care. Study Setting and Sample. This multi-site study used two accredited nursing programs located in the Western Region of the United States. The convenience sample consisted of traditional second quarter and traditional final quarter nursing students attending a faith-based university and accelerated final quarter nursing students attending a private secular university. Design. This study used a convergent mixed method design that consisted of one overarching mixed method question, eight quantitative research questions and three open-ended qualitative questions. Methods. Data was collected via an online survey using QuestionPro®. The survey consisted of three instruments, a demographic information sheet, and three open-ended questions. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive, pairwise Spearman rank correlation, independent t-tests, and MANOVAs. Content analysis will be used to analyze the open ended questions and those results are pending. Results. Descriptive results showed an ethnically diverse sample (N = 141) of primarily female nursing students. The findings suggested a significant positive relationship between spirituality and intrinsic religiosity in traditional second quarter (rs= 0.53, p < .001), and accelerated final quarter students (rs = 0.79, p < .001). Results for perceived ability to provide spiritual care suggested a marginal (or unadjusted) inverse relationship with dimensions of religiosity and spirituality for all groups of students. The final quarter students’ mean score was significantly higher than accelerated final quarter nursing students for both intrinsic religiosity (p = .01) and organizational religious activity (p = .001). Conclusion. Although significant positive and marginal (or unadjusted) inverse relationships were reported between spirituality, religiosity, and perceived ability to provide spiritual care, the findings were not consistent for all groups. The marginal (or unadjusted) inverse relationships imply that a nursing student may have difficulty differentiating spirituality and religiosity and that nursing students may be faced with a dilemma as to how to include the spiritual dimension in a holistic practice. The pending qualitative data results will be analyzed for convergence or divergence with the quantitative findings.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Nursing students -- Attitudes.
Nursing -- Religious aspects.
Spirituality.
Holistic nursing.

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

146

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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Nursing Commons

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Rights Statement

In Copyright