Zeitschrift für fortgeschrittene Praktiken in der Krankenpflege

A Systematic Review about Spirituality in Nursing Care: Avoiding a Specific Illness Care Environment

Abstract

Cristina Terceño- López, Carme Ferré-Grau, Jeroni Jurado-Campos and María Francisca Jiménez-Herrera

Aim: This article aims to synthesize evidence from a systematic review on the conceptualization of spirituality related to nursing care.

Background: Over the last few decades, the concept of spirituality has been studied and defined, in relation to illness, and conceptualizations were been formulated from different scientific disciplines and therapeutic fields.

Design: A systematic review with narrative synthesis was performed.

Data sources: First, different concepts of spirit and soul in present Philosophy were exposed. Second, the meaning of spirituality, in dissimilar dictionaries, was interpreted. Third, a literature review of PUBMED, WOS, CUIDEN, and DIALNET was used to discuss the differences among the conceptualizations of spirituality related to nursing care.

Review methods: PRISMA statement was followed, as were established methods for systematic reviews.

Results: In most articles reviewed, methodologies of Walker and Avant Chin and Kramer and Rodgers were stated, for the clarification of this notion. Moreover, it was concluded by different authors that the way it was done was unclear at the present time. No distinction between spirituality, spiritual needs and spiritual care were found.

Conclusions: Spirituality is a difficult term to clarify, because it evolves at the same time as society change and it has been approached from different points of view, related to diverse therapeutic fields and illnesses. Moreover, spirituality is an intimate and subjective experience so nurses should approach it from an ethical and humanistic perspective.