The impact of nurses' spiritual health on their attitudes toward spiritual care, professional commitment, and caring

BackgroundThe personal spiritual health of nurses may play an important role in improving their attitudes toward spiritual care and their professional commitment and caring capabilities.PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the impact of nurses' personal spiritual health on their attitudes toward spiritual care, professional commitment, and caring.MethodsA total of 619 clinical nurses were included in this cross-sectional survey. The measurements included the spiritual health scale-short form, the spiritual care attitude scale, the nurses' professional commitment scale, and the caring behaviors scale. Structural equation modeling was used to establish associations between the main research variables.ResultsThe hypothetical model provided a good fit with the data. Nurses' spiritual health had a positive effect on nurses' professional commitment and caring. Nurses' attitudes toward spiritual care could therefore mediate their personal spiritual health, professional commitment, and caring.ConclusionsThe findings indicated that nurses' personal spiritual health is an important value and belief system and can influence their attitudes toward spiritual care, professional commitment, and caring.