Students’ voices on spiritual care at a Higher Education Institution in the Western Cape

Abstract

BackgroundNurses have a moral obligation to ensure holistic care of patients, inclusive of the spiritual dimension. However, there seems to be a void in the teaching and learning of spiritual care in nursing curricula. Despite the South African Nursing Council being in favour of holistic nursing, there are no measures in place to ensure implementation of spiritual care, hence its practice is not standardised in nursing education in South Africa. Currently, the undergraduate nursing curriculum does not provide clear direction on how spiritual care in nursing should be integrated and the reason for this is not clear. It appears that the lack of professional regulation, difficulties in definition and the personalised nature of spiritual practice are partly responsible for the practice being barely enforced and scarcely practised by students in clinical placements. The aim of the study was to develop a practice theory for teaching–learning of spiritual care in the undergraduate nursing programme.ObjectivesThe study objective was to describe and explore the students’ experiencs of teaching–learning of spiritual care in the undergraduate nursing programme.MethodsA qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design with purposive sampling was used. The sample consisted of undergraduate nursing students at a University in the Western Cape Province. Measures for trustworthiness were applied.ResultsThe findings indicated a need to provide support, a conducive learning environment and structure for teaching, learning and practice of spiritual care.ConclusionThere is a need for formal education regarding spiritual care in nursing.

“Enablement”—Spirituality Engagement in Pre-Registration Nurse Education and Practice: A Grounded Theory Investigation

“…but I remember we definitely had dedicated sessions in the second and third year, but I can't remember back to the first-too long ago for me to remember. P7This inability of a number of participants to remember when spirituality education took place in the earlier years of their nursing programme and the actual content of the same concur with the findings in a study by Linda et al (2015) whereby the research sample were unable to remember what, when, and how they learned spiritual care. However, in this investigation, information overload was given as one probable reason for such an occurrence, as expressed below:…”

“…Moreover, Carroll (2001, p.94) suggested that, "Just as spirituality infiltrates all aspects of a person's Being, spiritual care infiltrates all aspects of nursing care". Hence, spiritual care is embedded in nursing (Linda et al 2015). Clarke (2013) also adds that spirituality in healthcare must be acceptable to people with a wide variety of beliefs and attitudes.…”

Spiritual Care: Motivations and Experiences through the Lenses and Voices of a Cohort of Spiritual Care Workers at an Established Hospice in Cape Town, South Africa

“…The participants of this study felt that part of the process of sustaining spiritual care services at hospices would be to provide recognised training in spiritual care, to develop a spiritual care code of ethics, and to have spiritual care services registered with a professional body. Similar calls have been made by Linda et al (2015) for formal education in spiritual care in nursing; for formal education in spiritual care in health sciences; Bhagwan (2017) for formal education in spiritual care for social workers; and Gwyther et al (2018) for training for hospital-based professionals. Participants expressed the importance of screening potential spiritual care volunteers who are looking to enter into spiritual care work, not only to assess their skills and competencies, but also to assess their personal attributes and motivation for wanting to do spiritual care work; nuggets of suggestions which call for greater investigations and understanding and which could have value to SLCH and other hospices in SA in the recruitment of spiritual care volunteers, as well as positioning spiritual care within the palliative care framework at hospices in SA.…”

“…In SA, spiritual care seems not to be ensconced in a core or formal curriculum, but rather it appears to be an ancillary course taught at some institutions of higher learning (Linda et al, 2015). Germane to this and emerging from a national study of training needs of spiritual care workers in hospice palliative care settings, a set of soft and hard skills were suggested as a key skills-set for spiritual care workers in SA (Mahilall & Swartz, under review).…”

Enhancing A Holistic Wellness Among Female Students at a University in Eswatini Through Relevant Intervention Strategies for Support

“…Anderson (2015) postulates that spiritual wellness is 'the sweet spot for wellness and lying at the intersection of the body, mind, and spirit' and therefore it is the 'lifeblood of campuses'. If spiritual needs are not met or nurtured they translate into negative emotions and deplete a student's energy (Linda, Klopper, & Phetlhu, 2015). Furthermore, Krause, Ellison, and Marcum (2002) indicated that women may receive more benefit from religious and spiritual involvement than men do and such benefit may include more social support.…”