title: A historical overview of spirituality in nursing.
abstract: The following article is an attempt to encapsulate an historical overview of spirituality in nursing. Despite a plethora of information relative to spirituality in nursing, the decision was to do an eclectic overview that was not reflective of any one spiritual/religious group. The authors at times found this goal difficult when writing about the Pre-Christian and Christian eras. Most of the major religions have their own perspective on the concept of spirituality, and historical personalities recorded maybe reflective of that particular religion. Another factor that impacted on the writing of this article was the concept that spirituality was not always linked specifically to religion. Spirituality was an experiential component of the wonders of nature and life, a domain that the authors took into account but did not expound upon. Finally the authors realized that spirituality has almost always been an aspect of African-American life and certainly of those in nursing. To this end the authors realize that there is a need for more research in this area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina, USA. rwjohnson@uncfsu.edu
authors.forename: Ruth W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Joan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Tilghman
authors.forename: Lorrie R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Davis-Dick
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hamilton-Faison
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000266:history; D002835:Christianity / Q000266:history*; D006676:History of Nursing; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D029181:Spirituality