Perceived spiritual care competence and the related factors in nursing students during Covid-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: Spirituality is defined as the way people experience, express, and seek meanings. It is a major concept in the field of nursing care. Nursing students who are trained and exposed to patients' spiritual care will be better able to take care of their patients' spiritual needs. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to assess perceived spiritual care competence and the related factors in nursing students during the Covid-19 pandemic. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. The participants were 191 undergraduate nursing students at Guilan University of Medical Sciences (GUMS) that were entered into the study from July 29 to December 21, 2021. The spiritual care competence scale was used to measure spiritual care competence in the participants. It is a 27-item questionnaire with six dimensions including assessing and implementing spiritual care, professionalism and improving the quality of spiritual care, personal support and patient counseling, referral to professionals, attitude towards patient’s spirituality, and communication. Data was collected using the convenience sampling method. Data analysis was done by SPSS software version 16.0 using descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate methods. RESULTS: The mean total score of spiritual care competency was 106.8 (SD = 13.4). The mean total score of spiritual care competency was significantly higher in the native students (P = 0.031) and the students with experience of jobs in hospitals (P = 0.037). CONCLUSION: The findings indicated an acceptable level of performance in nursing students in spiritual care during the Covid-19 pandemic.