New Zealand Nurses’ Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual care: Qualitative Findings from a National Survey
by
Richard Egan 1,*, Rebecca Llewellyn 2, Brian Cox 2, Rod MacLeod 3,4, Wilfred McSherry 5 and Philip Austin 4
Richard Egan 1,*, Rebecca Llewellyn 2, Brian Cox 2, Rod MacLeod 3,4, Wilfred McSherry 5 and Philip Austin 4
1
Cancer Society Social and Behavioural Research Unit, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
2
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, 362 Leith St, North Dunedin, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
3
Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
4
HammondCare, Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, NSW 2065, Australia
5
Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST4 2DE, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Antonio Muñoz-García
Religions 2017, 8(5), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8050079
Received: 17 March 2017 / Revised: 9 April 2017 / Accepted: 19 April 2017 / Published: 26 April 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from Spirituality in Healthcare Conference 2016 “Nurturing the Spirit")
This paper presents the qualitative findings from the first national survey of New Zealand nurses’ views on spirituality and spiritual care. The importance of spirituality as a core aspect of holistic nursing care is gaining momentum. Little is currently known about New Zealand nurses’ understandings, perceptions and experience of spirituality. Design: A descriptive online survey. Method: A random sample of 2000 individuals resident in New Zealand whose occupation on the New Zealand electoral roll suggested nursing was their current or past occupation were invited via postcard to participate in an online survey. This paper reports on the free response section of the survey. Findings: Overall, 472 invitees responded (24.1%). From the respondents, 63% completed at least one of the optional free response sections. Thematic analysis generated three metathemes: ‘The role of spirituality in nursing practice’, ‘Enabling best practice’, and ‘Creating a supportive culture’. Conclusions: Spirituality was predominantly valued as a core aspect of holistic nursing care. However, clarity is needed surrounding what constitutes spiritual care and how this intersects with professional responsibilities and boundaries. Participants’ insights suggest a focus on improving the consistency and quality of spiritual care by fostering inter-professional collaboration, and improved provision of resources and educational opportunities.
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Keywords:
spirituality; spiritual care; nursing; holistic care
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Egan, R.; Llewellyn, R.; Cox, B.; MacLeod, R.; McSherry, W.; Austin, P. New Zealand Nurses’ Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual care: Qualitative Findings from a National Survey. Religions 2017, 8, 79.
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