To examine oncology nurses’ decision-making processes in the selection of one of two spiritual health assessment tools (Tool 1 and Tool 2) that they have identified as supporting patients experiencing spiritual distress related to the physical or emotional crises of living with a cancer diagnosis. A qualitative descriptive phenomenological study applying thematic analysis. The theoretical framework selected was Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring Fifteen registered nurses working on an Oncology Unit in a university affiliated teaching hospital located within the Northern United States, were provided with a PowerPoint presentation during a monthly staff meeting in March of 2024. The PowerPoint presentation focused upon an evolving case study about a male patient who was diagnosed with breast cancer. The male patient had a maternal history of breast cancer and had experienced cancer-related deaths in his family. Following the discussion of the case study, two spiritual health assessment tools, each 5-items, were developed in 2017 by the Principal Investigator with expert review by a hospital-based chaplain, were administered to the nurses. Tool 1 contained language not associated with traditional religious ideology and Tool 2 contained language associated with spiritual and religious ideology. A separate form, the Spiritual Health Assessment Feedback Form, was provided to participants asking them to identify their preferred Spiritual Health Assessment Tool (e.g., Tool 1 or Tool 2). The two spiritual health assessment tools were distributed to 15 registered nurses on an Oncology Unit. Twelve of the 15 nurses completed a Spiritual Health Assessment Feedback Form, each nurse providing their rationale as to why they selected a specific spiritual health assessment tool. The response rate was 83.3% (n = 10) preferred Spiritual Health Assessment Tool 1 and 16.7% (n = 2) preferred Spiritual Health Assessment 2. The preferred Spiritual Health Assessment Tool identified by the registered nurses was Tool 1, which consisted of 5-items with language that was not conducive to spiritual or religious ideology. Thematic analysis was applied in the interpretation of the data. Registered nurses are an integral to the quality-of-care patients diagnosed with cancer receive. A cancer diagnosis brings with it fears of death, increased stress, and difficulty with coping. Spiritual health is important to assess in all patients despite their faith or religious beliefs, and is a requirement by The Joint Commission within the United States.
Green et al. (Sun,) studied this question.