Nurses’ and carers’ spiritual wellbeing in the workplace

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate nurses’ and pastoral carers’ spiritual well-being (SWB) and how it relates to their workplace.

Design: The study design was a survey of total populations in selected health care services.

Setting: The setting was a public and a private hospital in a regional setting, and three hospices in major cities which had a religious affiliation.

Subjects: Responses were obtained from 154 (11%) nurses and 8 (6%) carers in the public hospital, 40 (7%) nurses in the private hospital and 16 nurses and 7 carers (17%) in the three hospices.

Main outcome measure: The Spiritual Health and Life Orientation Measure (SHALOM) was used to provide insights into staff ideals
for spiritual wellbeing, as well as their lived experiences in relating with self, others, the environment and/ or God. The nurses’ and carers’ perceptions about how well clients are supported in these four domains of spiritual well-being in their workplace were also explored.

Results: The beliefs and worldview of health care staff influence their ideals for spiritual wellbeing (SWB) to a greater extent than age, gender, or workplace setting. These ideals markedly impact on their lived experiences which reflect their SWB. Ten per cent of these staff showed spiritual dissonance in more than one of the four domains of SWB.
The major finding of this study is the influence that nurses’ and carers’ personal experience has on the level of help they thought clients received from the services offered in their workplace. Those who are more fulfilled in relationships, with themselves, others, the environment and/or God, believe that clients receive greater help in these areas from the services provided in their workplace.

Conclusion: SHALOM is a useful indicator of four domains of  SWB of health care staff who project their own lived experience onto the way they see clients having their spiritual wellbeing nurtured. This has implications for health care staff in the workplace.