'You never come back the same': the challenge of spiritual care in a deployed military nursing context.

To explore the experience of spirituality and spiritual care by military nurses on deployed operations. Despite an increasing body of research addressing spirituality in nursing care in a variety of clinical settings, the deployed military nursing context remains poorly understood. A qualitative, philosophical hermeneutic design. Ten Australian military nurses were interviewed about their experiences of spirituality and spiritual care while on deployed operations. Analyses were performed using a phenomenological method informed by philosophical hermeneutics. The participants perceived that they had an important role in the provision of spiritual care in the absence of family on deployed operations. However, the nurse also needed to care for their own spiritual needs. The results suggested that spirituality and spiritual care may provide positive benefits in protecting against the long-term psychological, emotional and spiritual impacts of military service on deployed operations. Military nurses need to understand the factors that influence spiritual care delivery in their practice setting. Nurses need to be cognizant of the importance of spiritual care in the deployed military context, not only for their patients and colleagues, but also for themselves. Spirituality is argued as a protective factor against the challenges and consequences often associated with deployment. Well-developed spiritual resilience may assist in ensuring that military personnel return home emotionally, psychologically and spiritually 'fit'. To provide effective spiritual nursing care to deployed military populations, the nurse needs to understand the complex military practice environment, the personal and individual nature of spiritual expressions and their own spiritual care requirements. Meaningful spiritual care aids resilience against the psychological, emotional and spiritual dangers of deployment.

Ormsby A ，Harrington A ，Borbasi S 《-》

The impact of empirical studies of spirituality and culture on nurse education.

Narayanasamy A 《JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING》

The spiritual dimensions of care in military nursing practice.

Ormsby A ，Harrington A 《International Journal of Nursing Practice》

Creating a spiritual tapestry: nurses' experiences of delivering spiritual care to patients in an Irish hospice.

Bailey ME ，Moran S ，Graham MM 《-》

Student nurses' perspectives of spirituality and spiritual care.

To investigate nursing students' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care. Spirituality is an essential part of holistic care but often neglected in practice. Barriers to spiritual care include limited educational preparation, negative attitudes towards spirituality, confusion about nurses' role, perceptions of incompetence and avoidance of spiritual matters. There is limited knowledge about students' perspectives of spirituality and spiritual care. Previous studies have predominantly focused on educational approaches to enhance spirituality. The next generation of clinicians may have different worldviews, cultural beliefs and values about spirituality and spiritual care from current nurses. There is a need to understand students' views and how their spiritual development is shaped in order to inform pre-registration education. A cross-sectional survey of final-year students from three educational institutions in Singapore was conducted from April to August 2010. Data included demographic details and responses on a new composite tool, the Spiritual Care Giving Scale (SCGS). A response rate of 61.9% (n=745 out of 1204) was achieved. The lowest mean score was item 9, "Without spirituality, a person is not considered whole". Highest mean was item 2, "Spirituality is an important aspect of human being". Factor 5 (Spiritual Care Values) had the lowest mean with Factor 2 (Spirituality Perspectives) the highest. Participants considered spirituality as essential to being human; developmental in nature; and vital for individuals' state of well-being. Attributes important for spiritual care were identified. Multivariate analyses showed positive association between participants' scores and institution but not with other variables. Participating student nurses reported a high level of spiritual awareness that was not constrained by age. Students affirmed the importance of spiritual awareness in order to address the spiritual needs of patients. There was some congruence between the perceptions of students in this ethno-culturally diverse Asian sample and responses by students in the UK and North America on the personal attributes needed to provide spiritual care. Comparative studies using the SCGS could inform our understanding of spirituality and best pedagogical approaches to develop spiritual awareness across the curricula and in clinical practice.

Tiew LH ，Creedy DK ，Chan MF 《-》