An Exploratory Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Care Among Malaysian Nurses

Atarhim, Mohd Arif; Lee, Susan; Copnell, Beverley

doi:10.1007/s10943-018-0624-0

Original Paper
Published: 20 April 2018

An Exploratory Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Care Among Malaysian Nurses

Journal of Religion and Health volume 58, pages 180–194 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

The increasing evidence that spirituality is a critical component for promoting health and well-being has made spirituality more significant to nursing practice. However, although nurses’ perceptions of spirituality have been studied in western countries, there has been little research on this topic in Southeast Asian countries where religions other than Christianity predominate. This study explores Malaysian nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and examines associations between socio-demographics and their perceptions. The Malaysian Nurse Forum Facebook closed group was used for data collection with 208 completed the online survey. The participants considered that spirituality is a fundamental aspect of nursing. Nonetheless, half of the respondents were uncertain regarding the use of the spiritual dimension for individuals with no religious affiliation. Significant differences were found between educational levels in mean scores for spirituality and spiritual care. There was also a positive relationship between perception of spirituality and spiritual care among the respondents. Despite the positive perceptions of nurses of spirituality in nursing care, the vast majority of nurses felt that they required more education and training relating to spiritual aspects of care, delivered within the appropriate cultural context.

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Department of Nursing, 5th Floor, Kompleks Pendidikan Perubatan Canselor Tuanku Ja’afar, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Faculty of Medicine, The National University of Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mohd Arif Atarhim
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University, Peninsula Campus, Frankston, VIC, Australia
Susan Lee
School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Beverley Copnell

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Mohd Arif Atarhim
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Susan Lee
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Beverley Copnell
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Correspondence to Mohd Arif Atarhim.

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Ethical Standards

The study was approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC) under the category of low-risk studies (Project Number: CF15/857-2015000383). Participation in this online survey was fully voluntary and anonymous with no explicit incentives provided for participation. Implied consent was applied for this study, in which the submission of the online survey indicated the participant’s consent to take part in the study. Participants were allowed not to answer any part of the survey without penalty. However, it was not possible to withdraw data, as the data provided by particular participants could not be identified once the online survey was submitted.

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Atarhim, M.A., Lee, S. & Copnell, B. An Exploratory Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Care Among Malaysian Nurses. J Relig Health 58, 180–194 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0624-0

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Published: 20 April 2018
Issue Date: 15 February 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0624-0

Keywords

Nurses
Perceptions
Spirituality
Spiritual care
Spiritual education
Holistic care