Date of Conferral

2015

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Alisha Jackelen

Abstract

The purpose of holistic spiritual care is to assess and provide for the spiritual needs of patients. Current literature indicates that holistic spiritual care is important to the healthcare of patients. Researchers suggest that nurses who practice holistic spiritual care are more aware of the attributes of caring, respect, and emotional support. This project study addressed a problem at the research site reported by local community nurses and holistic spiritual care experts of nurses not practicing holistic spiritual care. Mezirow's transformational learning theory was used as the theoretical foundation for this qualitative study, which was designed to examine the attitudes and beliefs of nurses about practicing holistic spiritual care. The study's participants were comprised of a mixed-gender convenience sample of 21 local registered nurses, aged 22 to 64, who were retired or who worked for a registry, and were recruited on Facebook to participate in a qualitative online questionnaire. Hand and computerized open coding and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data. Participants indicated that they believed practicing spiritual care nursing was beneficial as it could improve patient outcomes. The themes that emerged from the data included personal insecurities of nurses, little support, and lack of training in practicing spiritual holistic care. These findings were used to develop a 3-day workshop series designed to increase awareness and improve understanding of the benefits of holistic spiritual care of nurses, nurse educators, nurse leaders, and administrators. This study promotes positive social change by providing healthcare stakeholders at the local site with better understandings of the benefits of holistic spiritual care programs.

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