Although nursing has recognized spirituality as an important aspect of holistic patient care, exactly what spirituality means has remained rather amorphous. The purpose of this article is to present aspects of spirituality found in modern nurse theorists' ideas. These aspects are presented both in relation to reciprocal interaction or simultaneous action world-views and in relation to the extent of focus on the concept within the model or theory. This discussion will provide the researcher and practitioner with additional theoretical understanding on which to ground investigations and base practice.
The purpose of this study was to clarify spiritual health by examining the role of spiritual well-being (SWB), religiousness and hope in spiritual health. This was accomplished by obtaining questionnaire information from a convenience sample of 175 women diagnosed with breast cancer. Patients classified as intrinsically religious were found to have significantly higher scores on SWB than did those classified as extrinsically religious. There was no difference in hope scores between intrinsically religious and extrinsically religious patients, although hope was positively correlated with SWB. Existential well-being, a component of SWB, was the primary contributor of hope. The two major prognostic variables, stage of disease at diagnosis and number of positive lymph nodes, did not predict any of the scores.
Social and behavioral scientists in fields such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, nursing, and medicine have been investigating the relation between religious or spiritual variables and health outcomes for several decades. This article reviews a sample of the major empirical instruments used in this research, including extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity, spiritual well-being, and religious coping. The review encompasses suggestions for application of these scales to health communication theory and research associated with identity, self-efficacy, social support, and media use. Cautionary advice regarding ethical issues together with guidelines for use is advanced.
The purposes of this study were (1) to describe both religious and nonreligious appraisals of caregiving for a terminally ill patient and (2) to explore the relationship between these appraisals with situational outcomes, mental health outcomes, and spiritual health outcomes in the caregivers. Ninety-two caregivers completed a questionnaire consisting of religious and nonreligious appraisals, general and religious outcomes, depression, anxiety, and purpose in life. Caregivers who appraised their situation as part of God's plan or as a means of gaining strength or understanding from God reported positive outcomes while caregivers who viewed their situation as unjust, as unfair punishment from God, or as desertion from God had low scores on mental and spiritual health outcomes. Religious appraisals made a significant and unique contribution to the prediction of situational outcomes and mental and spiritual health outcomes above and beyond the effects of nonreligious appraisals.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.