title: Spirituality and spiritual care: a descriptive survey of nursing practices in Turkey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nurses' spiritual care practices have been shown to affect patients' well-being, therefore understanding nurses' spiritual care perceptions and their practices.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this paper is to investigate the nurses' views to practising spiritual care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive survey of 193 nurses was conducted at a general hospital in Turkey. Data was collected using a demographic questionnaire and The Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings of this study revealed that older nurses (p<.05); married (p<.001); higher levels of education (p<.05); work experience (p<.05); worked longer hours (p<.05); received education in spiritual care (p<.001); working in medical departments (p<.05) all tended to score higher on the SSCRS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our research findings suggest that there is a lack of knowledge and general confusion regarding Turkish nurses perceptions and practices related to spiritual care.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences , Kafkas University , Kars , Turkey.
authors.forename: Zümrüt
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Akgün Şahin
authors.affiliation: a Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences , Kafkas University , Kars , Turkey.
authors.forename: Funda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kardaş Özdemir
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey
keywords: nurse; spiritual care; spirituality