The Relationship Between Religious Attachment and Spiritual Care Competencies in Nursing Students: a Cross-Sectional Study in Turkey.

In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of religious attachment in nursing students on their spiritual care competence levels. This cross-sectional study was conducted with Turkish nursing students in 2022 (n = 348). The sociodemographic information form, spiritual health scale-short form (SHS-SF), and spiritual care competence scale (SCCS-T) were used for data collection. A significant relationship was found between religious attachment and SCCS-T (r = 0.211; p = 0.000). The study results showed that the SCCS-T scores of the students who took courses/training on spiritual care were higher (p < 0.05). The predictors of the spiritual care competence of the nursing students were religious attachment (β = 1.002) and spiritual care course/training (β = 7.957). The study findings indicate that nursing students' spiritual care competence was related to their religious attachment. In general, nursing students with a higher level of religious attachment have a higher perception of spiritual care competence. The results emphasize the integration of psychosocial-related concepts into the nursing curriculum to increase nursing students' spiritual care competence.