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AIMS: To explore the spiritual care competence among nurses in mainland China and determine its relationships with their self-efficacy and personal characteristics. BACKGROUNDS: Nurses' perception of competence in spiritual care has critical effects on their own practice. Having a view of the nurses' spiritual care competence would help nurse managers recognize the weakness of spiritual practice. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study using online survey methods was carried out in 2,970 Chinese nurses. Spiritual care competence scale and General Self-Efficacy Scale were used to collect the data. RESULTS: = 26.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Nurses showed different levels of competence in various dimensions of spiritual care. Their spiritual care competence was related to self-efficacy, whether or not received training, experience of caring terminal illness patients, working experiences and first degree of nursing education. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse managers have to realize that it is imperative to enhance the nurses' competence to address the spiritual care needs of patients. Appropriate ways to enhance the nurses' spiritual care competence are needed so as to improve spiritual practices.
Cheng et al. (Mon,) studied this question.