Empathy and Emotional Intelligence as Predictors of Spiritual Care Competence in Holistic Nursing: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose Grounded in Watson's Theory of Human Caring and holistic nursing principles, this study examined relationships among empathy, emotional intelligence, and spiritual care competence in clinical nurses and identified predictors of spiritual care competence. Design A cross-sectional correlational design was used. Methods Data were collected from 575 hospital nurses in Taiwan using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, and the Spiritual Care Competence Scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted. Findings Nurses demonstrated moderate-to-high spiritual care competence, which was positively correlated with empathy and emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence ( β = .383, p < .001) and empathy ( β = .165, p < .001) were significant predictors, in a model that explained 21.7% of the variance (adjusted R 2 = .217). Spiritual care education was positively associated with competence, whereas years of clinical experience were negatively associated with attitude toward patients’ spirituality and spiritual communication. Conclusions Emotional intelligence and empathy are key competencies associated with spiritual care competence. These findings support integrating emotional intelligence, empathy, and spiritual care training into nursing education and professional development to strengthen person-centered, holistic care.