title: Factors contributing to student nurses'/midwives' perceived competency in spiritual care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The spiritual part of life is important to health, well-being and quality of life. Spiritual care is expected of nurses/midwives, but it is not clear how students can achieve competency in spiritual care at point of registration as required by regulatory bodies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore factors contributing to undergraduate nurses'/midwives' perceived competency in giving spiritual care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A pilot cross-sectional, multinational, correlational survey design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaires were completed by 86% (n=531) of a convenience sample of 618 undergraduate nurses/midwives from six universities in four countries in 2010. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Differences between groups were small. Two factors were significantly related to perceived spiritual care competency: perception of spirituality/spiritual care and student's personal spirituality. Students reporting higher perceived competency viewed spirituality/spiritual care broadly, not just in religious terms. This association between perceived competency and perception of spirituality is a new finding not previously reported. Further results reinforce findings in the literature that own spirituality was a strong predictor of perceived ability to provide spiritual care, as students reporting higher perceived competency engaged in spiritual activities, were from secular universities and had previous healthcare experience. They were also religious, practised their faith/belief and scored highly on spiritual well-being and spiritual attitude/involvement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The challenge for nurse/midwifery educators is how they might enhance spiritual care competency in students who are not religious and how they might encourage students who hold a narrow view of spirituality/spiritual care to broaden their perspective to include the full range of spiritual concerns that patients/clients may encounter. Statistical models created predicted factors contributing to spiritual care competency to some extent but the picture is complex requiring further investigation involving a bigger and more diverse longitudinal sample.
authors.affiliation: School of Care Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Wales, CF37 4BD, UK. Electronic address: linda.ross@southwales.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: Haraldsplass Deaconess University College, Ulriksdal 10, 5009 Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: Tove.giske@hdh.haraldsplass.no.
authors.forename: Tove
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Giske
authors.affiliation: Reformed University for Applied Sciences, Grasdorpstraat 2, 8012EN Zwolle, Netherlands. Electronic address: r.vanleeuwen@viaa.nl.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta, Msida, Malta. Electronic address: donia.baldacchino@um.edu.mt.
authors.forename: Donia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baldacchino
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University/The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Stafford, United Kingdom. Electronic address: w.mcsherry@staffs.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Wilfred
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: McSherry
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine & Health Science, School of Health Sciences, Queens Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2HA, United Kingdom. Electronic address: arunaray@outlook.com.
authors.forename: Aru
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Narayanasamy
authors.affiliation: School of Care Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Wales, CF37 4BD, UK. Electronic address: paul.jarvis@southwales.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jarvis
authors.affiliation: Reformed University of Applied Sciences, Grasdorpstraat 2, 8012 EN Zwolle, the Netherlands. Electronic address: a.schep@via.nl.
authors.forename: Annemiek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schep-Akkerman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009721:Nurse Midwives; D011361:Professional Competence; D029181:Spirituality; D013338:Students, Nursing; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Nurse education; Spiritual care; Spiritual care competence; Spirituality