title: New Zealand hospice nurses' self-rated comfort in conducting spiritual assessment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure how comfortable hospice nurses in New Zealand are in conducting spiritual assessment and explore potentially associated factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional, mixed-methods, descriptive study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty hospice nurses from three New Zealand hospices.
  
  
  METHODS
  An investigator-designed questionnaire measured respondents' comfort with asking patients spiritual assessment questions proposed for use in the health-care literature. Other items assessed personal and work-related factors. Open questions generated data about how these nurses assess spirituality.The data was analysed using measures of central tendency, binomial non-parametric tests, and content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  These nurses were generally comfortable with proposed spiritual assessment questions and perceived spiritual assessment to be important. Personal factors including age, years in nursing, religiosity, and spirituality were not related to this comfort; however, training was associated with comfort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings underscore the importance of training and show how nurses can be comfortable with and capable of assessing patient spirituality.
authors: School of Nursing, Loma Linda University, West Hall, 11262 Campus Street, Loma Linda, California 92350, USA. ejtaylor@llu.edu
authors: Elizabeth Johnston
authors: EJ
authors: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006738:Hospices; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D012647:Self-Assessment; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce