Nurse spiritual self-care: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: The health care research on spirituality has focused on patients. Less is known about the spiritual self-care of nurses who work with these patients in all types of challenging environments. Nurse spiritual self-care may be helpful in reducing workplace stress and burnout.

Purpose: The purpose of this review was to provide a comprehensive understanding of the conceptual definitions, theory and measurement of nurse spiritual self-care as reflected in the current literature.

Methods: The review framework was aligned with the recommendations consistent with the Joanna Briggs Institute guidance for scoping reviews.

Findings: Ten studies were included. Three included explicit definitions and five explicitly stated theories. Five quantitative, four qualitative, and one mixed measurement of concept were found.

Discussion: This scoping review identified conceptualizations, theoretical frameworks, and measurements that can be foundational to future research in this area. Our paper highlights the need for further research on nurse spiritual self-care.

Keywords: Nurse self-care; Nurse spiritual self-care; Nurse spirituality; Spiritual self-care of nurses.