Abstract

Introduction: Spiritual care is an important concept in nursing, and there have been different definitions for it; however, in order to address the issue of care, there is a need for a common understanding of this concept. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyse the concept of spiritual care in nursing. Material and methods: the concept of spiritual nursing care was analysed using a hybrid model, which consists of three phases of theoretical, field work, and final analysis. In the theoretical phase, related articles were reviewed in valid databases from 2000 to 2019. In the field-work phase, in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants using a purposive sampling method. Finally, the final analysis was performed by combining the two previous phases. Results: The results of the final analysis showed that spiritual care is a kind of planned and responsible care through understanding emotions, and psychological and religious needs, which is formed through a trust and empathy-based relationship to solve the patient's problems and focuses on maintaining patients dignity and respect and establishes a kind of balance between different physical, mental, and social dimensions of the patient. Conclusions: The results of the current study help to clarify the concept of spiritual care, and in turn provide us with a holistic view of the concept and better understanding of its use in research and practice; however, it is recommended that further studies are carried out in other medical centres in the country to clarify all aspects of this concept.