Contributions for teaching religiosity/spirituality in undergraduate nursing programs: a qualitative study with Brazilian nurses

Abstract

Objective: to identify and collect recommendations for teaching religiosity/spirituality in undergraduate Nursing courses of nurses working in a Hospital. Method: this is a qualitative study, with 34 nurses interviewed. The research corpus was fully transcribed and submitted to content analysis. Results: the religiosity/spirituality theme was absent in the graduation of most of professionals. They mentioned the restricted preparation to deal with human issues and for being a dimension that offers a resource to face the challenges of the daily life of the profession. What mitigated this gap was that some professionals have their own religious/spiritual beliefs, which have often guided how this religious/spiritual support is provided in health care. Conclusions: participants suggest the presence of religiosity/spirituality teaching in nursing graduation effectively and practically, not only theoretically reinforce its importance. Taking religiosity/spirituality content to undergraduate courses can be sensitive to the holistic needs of patients/users and even the professionals themselves.