Providing spiritual care as a dimension of holistic nursing care is a task that requires competent caregivers. The present study seeks to examine the relationship of personal characteristics with perceived competence in Iranian nursing students and their professional competence in providing spiritual care. This cross-sectional study was conducted on all the nursing students at Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran, using the census method (n = 224). The research sample consisted of 179 students who met the eligibility criteria. Data were collected using the Spiritual Care Competence Scale (SCCS). The mean SCCS score for respondents was 3.66. Using the cutoff point of >3.5, approximately three quarters of respondents (72.1%) perceived themselves to be competent in delivering spiritual care. The scores of competence and its domains were not significantly different in terms of history of participation in ethics training workshops, gender and marital status (P > 0.05). The scores were also not significantly correlated with age, semester and work experience. Although more than 70% of the nursing students perceived themselves competent in providing spiritual care, nursing curriculum planners should seek to promote the spiritual capacity and competence of nursing students in providing spiritual care through education and training.
Keywords: Iran; Nursing education; Nursing students; Professional competence; Spiritual care.
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