SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING OF BACCALAUREATE NURSING STUDENTS AND NURSING FACULTY AND THEIR RESPONSES ABOUT SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING OF PERSONS.
Contributors: Widener University School Of Nursing.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 202
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Education.; Health Sciences, Human Development.
Description: A review of the nursing literature suggests practicing nurses and nursing students are not educationally prepared to deal with spiritual problems of patients. Only a few research reports relate to spirituality and nursing education.

One purpose of this study was to compare spiritual well-being scores of baccalaureate nursing students and faculty through the use of the JAREL Spiritual Well-Being Scale (JAREL). The acronym JAREL denotes the first-name initials of the developers of the instrument (Hungelmann, Kenkel-Rossi, Klassen, & Stollenwerk, 1989). Additional purposes were to determine if demographic variables influenced JAREL scores, to describe responses regarding spiritual well-being, and to compare the internal consistency of the JAREL between two age groups.

A purposive sample of 225 students and 41 faculty was from four National League for Nursing accredited baccalaureate schools in Pennsylvania. Instruments used in this descriptive-comparative study were the 21-item JAREL and a demographic questionnaire which included three open-ended questions about spiritual well-being of persons.

Data from the demographic questionnaire and JAREL were described. A t-test resulted in a significant difference between students and faculty JAREL scores. A stepwise regression resulted in type of school and age as having the greatest influence on JAREL scores of students. Further testing using analysis of covariance resulted in Protestant nursing school, Catholic nursing school, and age as predictors of high JAREL scores among students. Demographic variables did not influence JAREL scores of faculty. A Chronbach's Alpha for this group of 19 to 64 year old adults was.81 compared to.85 for a group of 65 year old and older adults in a previous study. Responses from the open-ended questions were tabulated in order of frequencies, then described. Responses of students and faculty were similar in content.

Results of this study have implications for nursing education, practice, and research and suggest the JAREL is a reliable instrument for persons who are 19 years old or older. Students and faculty described spiritual well-being of persons which implies usefulness of the Conceptual Model of the Nature of Humans (Stallwood & Stoll, 1975) for research and education.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-12, Section: B, page: 6221.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--WIDENER UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1992.

School code: 0969.