Application of Concept Analysis to Clinical Practice

Introduction

Concept analysis is a strategy used to analyze and evaluate a given model or theory for synthesis and application within varied contexts. The aim of analyzing a particular concept is to understand it and apply it in practical situations. Nursing concepts can sometimes be very specific, and thus, limited in their application. Therefore, one needs to examine the nature of the concept and find out how it can be applied in different areas and be just as effective as in the original context. In order to conduct an effective concept analysis, a practitioner must be fully aware about the situations relevant to the indicated concept and obtain explanations that would help them to translate the concept and apply it in a different context. In the article, “Spiritual Nursing Care: A Concept Analysis,” the author Lydia Monareng established that nurses have to refer to the spiritual needs of their patients with the same consideration and knowledge as they attend to their biological and emotional needs in the scope of care delivery.

Method of Analysis

In this article, the concept of spiritual nursing care is broken down to its essentials and then reconstructed as a way to establish its position and contribution to the field of nursing. In this case, the author applied all of the eight steps in the analysis as well as compared and contrasted the cases. A concept analysis not only focuses on a given concept but also its components, interpretations and applications within nursing practice (McEwen &Wills, 2014).

Steps and the Results

Identifying the Concept and Its Associated Terms

The concept in this article is the spiritual nursing care. The associated terms include care, spirit, spiritual, spirituality, and spiritual nursing care. The findings presented by the author indicate that each of the associated terms within this concept has a varied meaning as constructed within the various social and cultural contexts. To illustrate, care is defined as an activity aimed at assisting the client physically or psychologically. On the other hand, spirit indicates an inner resource from which individuals are expected to derive their strength and vitality, especially when going through the tough time. Spiritual is related to the church, while spirituality is a personal quest to understand and appreciate the meaning of one’s being or existence and their relationships, and spiritual care is a process embodied in the nurse’s love and respect for a patient as shown in practitioner-to-patient interactions.

Selecting the Right Setting for Data Collection

The author identified the setting for the study as nursing, sociology and psychology, limiting the research to case studies, meta analyses, review articles, and qualitative as well as quantitative studies.

Identifying the Attributes and Contexts of the Concept

The identified attributes of the concept include caring presence, searching for meaning and purpose, spiritual dialogue, transcendence, and harmonious connectedness. Caring presence features availability of care provider to a patient, listening to them, and generally providing spiritual support for them. In contrast, searching for meaning and purpose is more about establishing the ontological significance of life in order to find a spiritualistic explanation of the purpose of the patient’s illness or suffering. Spiritual dialogue entails providing honest answers to the patient’s spiritual questions and using spiritual diction when communicating about spiritual matters with the patient. Further, transcendence focuses on providing the patient the quiet space and also offering guidance on prayer and meditation during and even after the illness. As for the attribute of harmonious connectedness, a nurse is expected to promote spiritual belonging and health relationships with the self and with God while also preaching forgiveness among other issues.

The Characteristics of the Concept

Monareng (2012) analyzes the values of spiritual nursing care and the findings indicate that these include compassion, empathy, respect, concern, and hope. All of these values can be associated with providing the caring presence for the patient as highlighted in the scope of the attributes of the concept (Dinmohammadi, 2013). This circumstance means that spiritual nursing care relates to showing respect and concern, empathy, compassion as well hope as a way of generally being physically and spiritually present while caring for the patient.

Antecedents. These notions refer to spiritual discomfort in the patient, spiritual sensitivity and self awareness in a nurse, transcendent awareness and trusting relationship between the nurse and a patient, along with caring presence and spiritual competence. The patient primarily has to need the spiritual nursing care, and the nurse must be in a position to provide it.

Consequences. This category includes spiritual integrity, spiritual health and a higher sense of wellbeing that is not simply limited to the patient’s physical being. Spiritual nursing care is aimed at ‘touching’ the patient beyond their physical ailments.

Identifying the Concept’s Exemplar

Spiritual care has been repeatedly ignored in the field of nursing practice owing to the fact that it is not a defined concept (Smith, 2012). The whole idea is rather vague while nursing is often based on clarity. However, the concept helps the patients to recover by giving them spiritual strength. Generally, there are a number of possible definitions and approaches to spiritual nursing care, but the specifics are highly dependent upon the culture and denomination of a patient and nurse.

Identifying the Hypotheses and Implications for Developing the Concept

Spirituality remains a contentious subject within the nursing fraternity due to the subjectivity of the concept to one’s cultural influences. In order to apply spiritual nursing care, a nurse has to be spiritual, and not everyone is equally spiritual. Therefore, a need to study the impact of the nurse’s orientation towards spirituality on their ability to deliver spiritual nursing care is critical. While it was established that patients respond well to spiritual nursing care, an ability of practitioners to deliver this type of care is rather questionable within most contexts.

Application of the Concept to a Practice Situation

Young mothers often have a spiritual crisis when face with complications during labor (Monareng, 2012). In case a patient at the labor ward worries about their situation, wondering whether the pain and the complications are a punishment for having a child out of wedlock, the nurse should speak to them, reassure them, and possibly indulge the services of a pastoral counselor. In such a situation, it is important to not only listen to the patient’s concerns and talk to them about their beliefs but also to involve a member of the clergy who may have a more qualified analysis of the situation (Smith, 2012). The idea is to ensure that the patient is comfortable and at peace within a spiritual context so as to eliminate anxiety and possibly reduce the fear and pain that they could experience.

Conclusion

Spiritual nursing care is a concept that remains largely elusive within nursing practice owing to the difficulties associated with spirituality from a personal perspective. Most nurses actually have to struggle with the question of their own spirituality, thus making it difficult for them to exhibit spiritual competence. In accordance with Monareng’s (2012) article, nurses simply have to start by building their spiritual awareness and integrity before they can offer effective spiritual nursing care. Meanwhile, the least a nursing practitioner can do is offer a caring presence while consulting with a more qualified person on the spiritual context for their patient.

Related Free Nursing Essays