Journal of Clinical Sciences (Jan 2018)
Perception of spirituality, spiritual care, and barriers to the provision of spiritual care among undergraduate nurses in the University of Lagos, Nigeria
Abstract
Background: Spiritual care is an important aspect of holistic care in nursing, and as a result, some nursing schools have begun offering courses in spirituality. Even at that, studies in some countries have shown that nursing students' perception on spirituality and spiritual care was not sufficient and most professional nurses still feel inadequately prepared to provide spiritual care, showing the inadequacy of the education that was received, thus, hindering the patients from receiving holistic care. Objectives: This study has the broad objective of identifying the perception of spirituality and spiritual care and barriers to the provision of spirituality care among undergraduate nurses in the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, utilizing stratified random sampling technique. A total of 117 out of 157 students of the nursing department, University of Lagos, ranging from 200 level to 500 level participated in the study. Data were collected using structured self-administered questionnaire, with a reliability coefficient of 0.509, which was validated using face and content method. Analyses were done using Statistical Package for Social Services version 14 and presented using tables, percentages, and pie chart. Results: Result shows that of the respondents, 67.9% scored <50% of the questions pertaining to perception on spirituality and spiritual care. This shows that nurses had poor perception regarding spirituality and spiritual care, with majority (68.7%) of them perceiving spirituality as religion. Barriers to the provision of spirituality care were also identified with “lack of confidence” being the most common. Conclusion: The findings of this research showed that nursing students' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care was poor which had no relationship with their academic level or kind of religion, thus, showing that the education being provided on this part of holistic care is not sufficient, requiring an in-depth adjustment of nurses' educational curriculum on the aspect of spiritual care.
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