The Lived Experience of Giving Spiritual Care:

A Phenomenological Study
of Nephrology Nurses Working in Acute and
Chronic Hemodialysis Settings

Belinda Deal
Jane S. Grassley
 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
To explore the lived experiences of nephrology
nurses working in dialysis giving spiritual care

1. Identify the themes of spiritual care developed within

this qualitative analysis.

2. Explore the readiness of dialysis nurses to provide

spiritual care.

3. Utilize spiritual care interventions within individual

practice areas.
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
What are the memorable experiences you had
with a patient taking care of his or her spiritual or
psychosocial needs?

How participants thought patients on dialysis

experience spiritual distress,?

How does one’s spirituality may have changed over

time?
 METHODOLOGY

• PHENOMENOLOGy is the study of lived

experience in which the re searcher is
discovery-oriented. The re searcher is on a
quest to know answers to the following
questions: “What is this everyday experience
like? What is its meaning? How is it
experienced?”
 PARTICIPANTS
• Ten participants in this study were registered
nurses who had current or prior experience as a
dialysis nurse and who spoke English.

• Purposive sampling was used to determine the

participants of the study

• Snowball sampling was also used to choose

participants comung from the list of referrals
 SETTING

• The study was conducted at

the different Chronic and acute
dialysis facilities within a 30-
mile radius of the Texas
Woman’s University
 TIME FRAME

• Data collection occurred

between November
2007 and April 2008
 DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE
• Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Texas Woman’s University
approved the study

• Participants communicated by telephone and email to set up

convenient interview times and locations. Prior to the
interviews, written in -formed consents were signed and
demographic surveys completed.

• The researcher interviewed the nurses using an interview

guide. Interviews lasted 30 to 60 minutes. Saturation of the
data was reached after 10 interviews were conducted.
 INSTRUMENTS

Interview via telephone was

used
 DATA ANALYSIS
• A transcriptionist familiar with research
data confidentiality transcribed the
interview recordings verbatim. Data were
analyzed using Colaizzi’s (1978)
phenomenological approach. Each
participant was given a pseudonym to
protect confidentiality.
• The first researcher read all participants’
descriptions of the phenomenon for a
general overview. The recordings were
played as the re - searcher read the
transcripts to correct any discrepancies in
the transcription and to understand the
subtleties of the interview.
• The first researcher sent participants a
copy of their transcripts and asked them
to check the transcripts for accuracy
(called member checks). Participants
were asked if they wanted to add
information to their interview data.
• The researchers then chose significant parts or
statements from each interview that described
the experience of giving spiritual care.

• Lastly, all data were included in an exhaustive

description related to the experiences of
nephrology nurses working in dialysis giving
spiritual care.
 FINDINGS
• Five themes were identified:
• a) drawing close,
• b) drawing from the well of my spiritual
resources,
• c), sensing the pain of spiritual distress,
• d) lacking resources to give spiritual care, and
• e) giving spiritual care is like diving down
deep.
• The study findings suggest that patients
and nurses draw close during the giving
of spiritual care, that nurses have
spiritual resources they use to prepare
for and give spiritual care, and that giving
spiritual care can have an emotional cost.
• First, the basic component of spiritual care is
connecting with the patient.

• Second, no matter how patients define

spirituality, patients use their spirituality to
help them transcend their experiences of
illness and suffering and find meaning and
purpose
• Third, nurses can offer spiritual care regardless of their
own beliefs or those of the patient.

• Time was a main reason cited by the nurses for not

offering spiritual care

• Lastly, many of the nurses’ desscriptions of what they

did during spiritual care resembled that of psychosocial
care, which included showing respect, listening