title: [Experience of Spiritual Conflict in Hospice Nurses: A Phenomenological Study].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This aim of this phenomenological study was to describe and understand the experience of spiritual conflict in hospice nurses by identifying the meanings and structures of the experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 12 nurses working for one year or more at hospice units of general hospitals in a metropolitan city and experiencing of spiritual conflict as hospice nurses. Over six months data were collected using individual in-depth interviews and analyzed with the method suggested by Colaizzi.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The experience of spiritual conflict in participants was organized into three categories, six theme-clusters, and 13 themes. The participants felt existential anxiety on death and a fear of death which is out of human control and skepticism for real facts of human beings facing death. They also experienced agitation of fundamental beliefs about life with agitation of the philosophy of life guiding themselves and mental distress due to fundamental questions that are difficult to answer. Also they had distress about poor spiritual care with guilty feelings from neglecting patients' spiritual needs and difficulties in spiritual care due to lack of practical competencies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings indicate the experience of spiritual conflict in hospice nurses is mainly associated with frequent experience of death in hospice patients. The experience of spiritual conflict consisted of existential anxiety, agitation of fundamental beliefs and distress over poor spiritual care. So, programs to help relieve anxiety, agitation and distress are necessary to prevent spiritual conflict and then spiritual burnout in hospice nurses.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea. lbs@kmu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Byoung Sook
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Keimyung College University, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Su Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kwak
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D017051:Hospice Care; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D029181:Spirituality
keywords: Conflict; Hospices; Nurse; Qualitative research