Attributes of Spiritual Care in Nursing Practice

Sawatzky, Rick M.S.N., R.N.
Pesut, Barbara M.S.N., R.N.

Trinity Western University

Rick Sawatzky, M.S.N.,R.N., is an assistant professor at the Department of Nursing of Trinity Western University and doctoral student at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing. He is involved in interdisciplinary research examining the social context of health behavior with an explicit focus on quality of life measurement and conceptualization, and spirituality. Rick is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Recent publications include (with Chiu, Emblen, Van Hofwegen, & Meyerhoff) “An Integrative Review of the Concept of Spirituality in the Health Sciences” in Western Journal of Nursing Research (2004); (with Ratner & Chiu) “A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Spirituality and Quality of Life” in Social Indicators Research (in press); and (with Reimer, Kirkham, Pesut, & Meyerhoff) “At the Juncture of Religion, Spirituality, Culture, State, and Health Care: The Contexts of Spiritual Care” in Canadian Journal of Nursing Research (in press).

Barbara Pesut, M.S.N., R.N., is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Nursing at Trinity Western University. Barbara ia a doctoral candidate at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include spirituality, curriculum development, program evaluation, nursing philosophy, and nursing history. Recent publications include “Developing Spirituality in the Nursing Curriculum: World Views, Intrapersonal Connectedness and Interpersonal Connectedness” in Nursing Education Perspectives (2003); “The Development of Nursing Student's Spirituality and Spiritual Care-Giving” in Nursing Education Today (2002); and (with Emblen) “Strengthening Transcendent Meaning: A Model for the Spiritual Nursing Care of Patients Experiencing Suffering” in Journal of Holistic Nursing (2001).

AUTHORS' NOTE: We would like to acknowledge Dr. Sally Thorne of the University of British Columbia School of Nursing and Kelli Stajduhar of the University of Victoria School of Nursing for their valuable contributions during the early parts of this article, and the student nurses whose insights helped to refine our initial understandings.

Journal of Holistic Nursing 23(1):p 19-33, March 2005.

Nurses are increasingly being called on to engage in spiritual care with their patients. A diverse body of theoretical and empirical literature addresses spirituality as it relates to nursing practice, yet there is little consensus about what spiritual nursing care entails. The purpose of this article is to conceptualize spiritual care in relation to nursing practice. A brief historical review indicates that our current understandings of spiritual nursing care have been shaped by three eras characterized by particular approaches: the religious approach, the scientific approach, and the existential approach. We draw elements from each of these approaches to propose attributes of spiritual care in the context of nursing practice. We propose that spiritual nursing care is an intuitive, interpersonal, altruistic, and integrative expression that is contingent on the nurse's awareness of the transcendent dimension of life but that reflects the patient's reality.