Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42047385›Full record

ArticlePalliative & supportive care2026

Predictors of nurses' spiritual care competence: A replication study with Australian palliative care nurses.

Rita Mascio, Sandra Lynch, Jane Phillips, Megan Best

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Palliative & supportive care, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Rita MascioInstitute of Ethics and Society, University of Notre Dame, Broadway, NSW, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5566-4443
Sandra LynchInstitute of Ethics and Society, University of Notre Dame, Broadway, NSW, Australia.
Jane PhillipsSchool of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Megan BestInstitute of Ethics and Society, University of Notre Dame, Broadway, NSW, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThere is a growing need to enhance healthcare providers' spiritual care competence, including for people receiving palliative care. A preceding study of predictors of spiritual care competence in a general group of nurses found that more competent nurses rated significantly higher in spiritual training adequacy, frequency of spiritual care provision, and personal spirituality than other nurses; like the demographic variables of level of education, length of nursing experience, and sex, confidence and comfort in providing spiritual care were not related to spiritual care competence. The current study aimed to replicate these relationships in a sample of palliative care nurses. This sample also allowed the testing of a hypothesis that palliative care nurses will tend to subscribe to more competent understandings of spiritual care.

methodsData were collected from a convenience sample of Australian palliative care nurses who completed an anonymous, online survey. The survey provided qualitative data about what spiritual care means for them and quantitative data regarding nurse characteristics. The qualitative data were used to create sub-groups of nurses based on their understanding of spiritual care and the quantitative data were used to construct a profile of nurse characteristics for each sub-group. The replication analysis determined whether a statistical difference in nurse characteristics existed across sub-groups. The hypothesis testing compared levels of spiritual care understanding across the general and palliative care samples of nurses.

resultsWhile the results of the palliative care sample are largely concordant with those obtained in the general sample, the current study amends "training adequacy" as a predictor of spiritual care competence to "experience (whether on-the-job or training) in caring for the dying." The study hypothesis was supported. SIGNIFICANCE OF

resultsThe results can be used to assess and develop competence in spiritual care for palliative care nurses.

Indexed as

Clinical CompetenceHospice and Palliative Care NursingNursesPalliative CareSpiritualityAdultAttitude of Health PersonnelAustraliaFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSurveys and QuestionnairescompetenceNursepalliative carereplicationspiritual care model

Identifiers

PMID42047385
PMCPMC13166302

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.