title: Spirituality in pre-registration nurse education and practice: A review of the literature.
abstract: Spirituality is known to be an integral part of holistic care, yet research shows that it is not well valued or represented in nurse education and practice. However, the nursing profession continues to make efforts to redress the balance by issuing statements and guidance for the inclusion of spirituality by nurses in their practice. A systematic literature review was undertaken and confirms that nurses are aware of their lack of knowledge, understanding and skills in the area of spirituality and spiritual care, and desire to be better informed and skilled in this area. Consequently, in order for nurses to support the spiritual dimension of their role, nurse education has a vital part to play in raising spiritual awareness and facilitating competence and confidence in this domain. The literature review also reveals that studies involving pre-registration are few, but those available do provide examples of innovation and various teaching methods to deliver this topic in nursing curricular.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University, Blackheath Lane, Stafford ST18 0AD, United Kingdom. Electronic address: lplewinson@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Lesline P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lewinson
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University, Blackheath Lane, Stafford ST18 0AD, United Kingdom; The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust; Haraldsplass Deaconess University College, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Wilfred
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: McSherry
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work Allied and Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University, Blackheath Lane, Stafford ST18 0AD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kevern
mesh_terms: D004506:Education, Nursing; D018939:Holistic Nursing / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role; D029181:Spirituality
keywords: Holistic care; Pre-registration nurses; Spirituality; Spirituality education; Systematic literature review