Zohrehsadat Mirmoghtadaie, Morteza Heidari, Seyedeh Zahra Nahardani, Akram Heidari,
Volume 31, Issue 4 (1-2026)
Abstract
Background & Aim: In light of the holistic approach to health, it has become increasingly important to utilize spiritual capacities to meet patients' needs. Spiritual care education for nursing students is therefore essential. This study aimed to address the lack of educational content in this area within the Iranian medical education system by developing a spiritual care educational package for nursing students and evaluating its impact on students' spiritual care scores.
Methods & Materials: This study, conducted in 1401, followed the Rothwell model and involved 60 final-year nursing students from Tehran, Shahid Beheshti, and Iran Universities of Medical Sciences. Participants were selected through simple random sampling in proportion to the number of final-year nursing students at each university. The educational package was provided to students as a text file for self-study, discussion with clinical instructors, and application in internship settings. Students' spiritual care scores pre- and post-training were compared using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS version 26.
Results: The average spiritual care score of the participating students increased from 1.94 to 4.21, indicating a significant positive effect of the training package (P<0.05). However, variables such as age, gender, university of study, and interest in the field did not have a significant effect on the increase in score (P>0.05).
Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that the training package was effective in improving students' spiritual care scores. Therefore, it is recommended that nurses and other health disciplines receive training in spiritual care through various m