Barriers to facilitating spiritual care in mental health nursing

Spiritual care is an important part of mental health care but remains a neglected aspect of training for mental health nurses. This article examines the tensions between documented benefits of spiritual engagement for service, and the gap in knowledge and confidence by mental health nurses. Drawing upon recent literature in this area, the authors argue that the systemic barriers and the lack of targeted nurse education can lead to the lack of mental health nurse confidence, which in turn leads to the omission of spiritual care. To bridge this gap, the authors advocate for potential solutions such as integrating spiritual care into preregistration curricula and into continuous professional development.