Nurse Competency in Providing Spiritual Care and Associated Influencing Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To determine the level of nurses' competency in providing spiritual care and factors influencing the same.

Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies.

Data sources: The electronic databases PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China Biomedical Literature service systems, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journal Database and WanFang Data were systematically searched from the inception of the respective databases to 13 April 2024.

Review methods: Two reviewers were independently involved in the selection of the included studies, quality evaluation, and data extraction. Meta-analysis of the study outcomes was performed using RevMan 5.2 and STATA 15 software.

Results: Sixteen cross-sectional studies conducted across three countries met the inclusion criteria, with 1111 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that the pooled scores for spiritual care competencies were 70.51 (95% CI: 70.23-70.79). The following were identified as factors influencing competency in providing spiritual care: educational background, spiritual education courses, religious belief, working hours, working environment, hospital grade, marital status, emotional intelligence, nursing age, income, position and empathy level (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: Nurses are the primary providers of spiritual care and should focus on the relevant factors affecting their ability to provide such care. Recognition of the factors influencing the provision of spiritual care can aid managers in taking appropriate corrective measures as well as help nurses avoid adverse situations and provide better care for patients. No Patient or Public Contribution.