Predictors of oncology and hospice nurses' spiritual care perspectives andpractices

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that predict nurses' spir itual care perspectives and practices and compare these perspectives and pr actices between nurses in two subspecialties. The sample included 181 oncol ogy nurses and 638 hospice nurses who completed the Spiritual Care Perspect ives Survey;ind a demographic form by mail. The hospice nurses surveyed use d traditional spiritual care interventions more frequently and held more po sitive perspectives regarding spiritual caregiving than oncology nurses. Ho wever, what determined spiritual care practices and perspectives most was t he spirituality of the nurse. Nurses must continue to explore how their per sonal spirituality contributes to their caregiving. Copyright (C) 1999 by W .B. Saunders Company.