Mapping the evidence on spiritual care in clinical nursing practice: A scoping review
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33024/min.v9i8.4269
Clinical Nursing Practice Holistic Nursing Spiritual Care Standard Operating Procedure
Abstract
Background: Spiritual care is an essential component of holistic nursing; however, its implementation in clinical practice remains suboptimal due to limited nursing competencies, inadequate training, and a lack of evidence-based standard operating procedures (SOPs). Purpose: To map the available evidence to inform the development of the Spiritual Integrated Nursing Procedure (SPIRIT CARE NURSE) SOP for clinical nursing practice. Method: A scoping review was conducted using the framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley and guided by the PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines. Literature searches were performed in PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, ProQuest, BMC Nursing, Garuda, SINTA, and Google Scholar for articles published between 2022 and 2026. A total of 45 eligible articles were included and analyzed thematically. Results: The synthesis identified seven themes related to spiritual care implementation: nurses’ competencies, intervention effectiveness, education and training, implementation barriers, organizational support, the development of models and instruments, and the integration of spirituality into holistic nursing. The included studies reported that spiritual care may contribute to improved quality of life, psychological comfort, spiritual well-being, coping abilities, and patient-centered care. However, implementation remains challenged by limited standardized procedures, inadequate training, and insufficient organizational support. Conclusion: The findings highlight the need to develop an evidence-based SPIRIT CARE NURSE SOP to support the systematic, measurable, holistic, and patient-centered implementation of spiritual care in clinical nursing practice.Downloads
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