title: Undergraduate nurse students' perspectives of spiritual care education in an Australian context.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council competency standards highlight the need to provide holistic care that is inclusive of spiritual care. Literature shows that internationally many nurses feel unsure of how to provide spiritual care which has been attributed to a lack of spiritual care education during undergraduate nursing programs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study explores the impact of a spiritual care subject in an undergraduate nursing program in an Australian tertiary institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative research design using in-depth semi-structured interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  A tertiary institution with a Christian orientation in Sydney, Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six undergraduate nursing students who had completed the spiritual care subject.
  Two themes emerged from the data: Seeing the person as a whole and Being with the person.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The spiritual care subject had a positive impact on the perceptions of undergraduate nursing students. In particular students perceived themselves more prepared to provide holistic care that was inclusive of spiritual care.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Science, Pacific Adventist University, Papua New Guinea. Electronic address: katway2008@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Katherine Louise
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Western Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D005260:Female; D018939:Holistic Nursing / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D029181:Spirituality; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Education; Holistic care; Spiritual care; Undergraduate nurses