Spirituality and Spiritual Care Competence among Expatriate Nurses Working in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: In Saudi Arabia, where the majority of the nursing workforce are foreigners, little is known about perceptions of spirituality and spiritual caregiving among foreign nurses who provide nursing care to patients with varied spiritual and religious beliefs. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the spirituality and spiritual care competence and its predictors among expatriate Christian nurses in Saudi Arabia, who provide care for Muslim patients. Methods: A convenience sample of 302 nurses was surveyed in this descriptive cross-sectional study using the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale and the Spiritual Care Competence Scale. Results: Results revealed high values on three domains, namely, spiritual care, personal care, and existential spirituality. The majority of the respondents reported competence in all six subscales of spiritual care. The participants’ age, educational level, perception of existential spirituality, and personal care were found to be relevant predictors of their spiritual care competence. Conclusions: The findings suggest that existential spirituality and personal care dimensions of Christian nurses’ spirituality and spiritual care perceptions play critical roles in the provision of competent spiritual care to Muslim patients.

Nurse’s spiritual care competence in Ethiopia: A multicenter cross-sectional study

“…The current study found that older nurses had lower spiritual care competence scores. This finding is supported by a Saudi Arabian study [ 25 ], which found that being in the 40–49 age range reduced spiritual care competence. The current study’s findings also showed a significant difference between nurses’ scores on spiritual care competence and those receiving spiritual care training.…”

Workplace Spiritual Climate and Its Influence on Nurses’ Provision of Spiritual Care in Multicultural Hospitals

“…People's life in the country is heavily influenced by their Islamic faith. Hence, the religious dimension of spiritual care is critical in the achievement of holistic care among Saudi patients (Alshehry 2018). For instance, in a study conducted by Cruz et al (2017a) among Saudi patients receiving hemodialysis treatment, the respondents reported a high degree of religiosity.…”

The relationship between nurses' perceptions and competency about spiritual care and influencing factors

“…Abell et al 18 observed that participating nurses had the most positive perception on the dimension of attitude towards patients' spirituality and communication in providing spiritual care and the least positive perception on the dimension of professionalization and patient counseling in spiritual care. Alshehry 19 and Van Leeuwen and Schep‐Akkerman 10 stated that among the personal factors relating to spiritual care provision, nurses had excellent competency on the subdimensions of attitudes towards patients' spirituality and communication. Alshehry 19 reported that the highest mean scores were on attitude towards patients' spirituality (4.14 ± 0.60) and communication (4.12 ± 0.61).…”