Barriers to the Provision of Spiritual Care by Nurses for Hospitalized Patients in Jordan

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Spiritual care is an essential part of holistic patient care but is provided infrequently in practice. There is a paucity of research investigating the barriers to the provision of spiritual care among Jordanian nurses. The main purpose of this cross-sectional, correlational study was to identify these barriers and to explore the associations with nurses' personal and professional characteristics. A secondary purpose was to examine the psychometric properties of a newlydeveloped spiritual care barriers instrument. METHODS: We surveyed a convenience sample of Jordanian nurses (N = 282). Participants completed both the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) and the Spiritual Care Barriers Scale (SCBS). We conducted an exploratory factor analysis to examine the internal structure of the SCBS, and internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: The most common perceived barriers were lack of private places (82.3%), absence of an imam (79.8%), insufficient time (78.8%), inadequate skills and competencies (73.7%), lack ofreligious and spiritual facilities and resources in the hospital (71.3%), and insufficient knowledge (71.3%). Nurses' personal spiritual and existential well-being were negatively associated with spiritual care barriers. Head nurses and supervisors reported lower mean scores on perceived barriers than did associate nurses. The SCBS exhibited acceptable evidence of internal consistency and validity. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The findings help Jordanian nurse decision makers in practice and education to overcome barriers to the provision of spiritual care to better meet the spiritual needs of Muslim patients.