Spiritual interventions and the impact of a faith community nursing program.
Faith community nursing had its formal beginnings in the Midwestern United States in 1984 when six nurses received financial support from a local hospital to work in churches. Over time, the churches assumed increasing responsibility for the nurses' salaries. The success of this initiative was associated with the understanding that faith communities are dedicated to keeping people well. The number of programs increased over the past 30 years and now there are thousands of faith community nurses serving populations around the world. Research for this specialty practice has not experienced comparable growth, and is needed to further develop faith community nursing science. This study, based on the Roy Adaptation Model, used a qualitative design to identify spiritual nursing interventions that faith community nurses use in their practice, and to examine the spiritual impact of a faith community nursing program. Data were collected from faith community members, clergy representatives, and faith community nurses with a researcher-developed demographic tool and a six-item open-ended questionnaire that were both mailed to participants (N = 112; n = 52; response rate = 46%) and analyzed through content analysis. A variety of spiritual nursing interventions were identified. Themes related to the spiritual impact included the physical, mental, and spiritual health connection, caring, hope, spiritual support and benefits, and religious concepts.
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, School of Nursing, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.
Cynthia Ingram
CI
Shores
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D064698:Parish Nursing; D010327:Pastoral Care; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires