{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,14]],"date-time":"2026-02-14T01:16:53Z","timestamp":1771031813093,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,17]],"date-time":"2017-10-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1508198400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Religions"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Spirituality has been widely considered important for patients\u2019 health and for healthcare practice and is related to connectedness, meaning in life, and transcendence. Research concerning spirituality is growing rapidly, and the implementation of spiritual care should be based on evidence. This literature review aims to describe the methods that have been used in nursing research focusing on spirituality. The electronic search on databases through EBSCOhost identified 2091 citations, and a total of 231 studies were included. The methods used in research on spirituality in nursing are mostly quantitative (52.4%), but some are qualitative (42.8%) and mixed (4.8%). Regarding the quantitative research, most studies are observational (90.9%), and these are mainly descriptive (82.7%) and correlational (17.3%). Most studies used a cross-sectional design (98.7%), and few used longitudinal design (1.3%). The qualitative research is descriptive (39.4%), phenomenological (26.3%), and grounded theory (14.1%). Research on spirituality in nursing is based on both main paradigms (quantitative and qualitative), but also on mixed methods. Studies have mainly been conducted using cross-sectional designs when compared to longitudinal designs. The latter seem to constitute a gap in nursing knowledge and evidence regarding the changes of spirituality over time, which is particularly important for nurses\u2019 delivery of spiritual care.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rel8100226","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,17]],"date-time":"2017-10-17T11:14:35Z","timestamp":1508238875000},"page":"226","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Spirituality in Nursing: An Overview of Research Methods"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5804-7934","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Helga","family":"Martins","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Health Sciences, Universidade Cat\u00f3lica Portuguesa, Palma de Cima, 1649-023 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8867-2183","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joana","family":"Romeiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Health Sciences, Universidade Cat\u00f3lica Portuguesa, Palma de Cima, 1649-023 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9804-2297","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"S\u00edlvia","family":"Caldeira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Health Sciences, Universidade Cat\u00f3lica Portuguesa, Palma de Cima, 1649-023 Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"453","DOI":"10.1093\/biostatistics\/kxq014","article-title":"A Dynamic Approach for Reconstructing Missing Longitudinal Data Using the Linear Increments Model","volume":"11","author":"Aalen","year":"2010","journal-title":"Biostatistics (Oxford, England)"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5383","DOI":"10.1002\/cncr.26221","article-title":"Support of Cancer Patients\u2019 Spiritual Needs and Associations with Medical Care Costs at the End of Life","volume":"117","author":"Balboni","year":"2011","journal-title":"Cancer"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"885","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2702.2006.01643.x","article-title":"Nursing Competencies for Spiritual Care","volume":"15","author":"Baldacchino","year":"2006","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Nursing"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"594","DOI":"10.3390\/rel6020594","article-title":"Spiritual Care Education of Health Care Professionals","volume":"6","author":"Baldacchino","year":"2015","journal-title":"Religions"},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"1441","article-title":"Nursing Diagnoses Validation\u2014The Differential Diagnostic Validation Model as a Strategy","volume":"6","author":"Caldeira","year":"2012","journal-title":"Journal of Nursing UFPE"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2047-3095.2013.01234.x","article-title":"Spiritual Distress-Proposing a New Definition and Defining Characteristics","volume":"24","author":"Caldeira","year":"2013","journal-title":"International Journal of Nursing Knowledge"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Caldeira, S\u00edlvia, Figueiredo, Am\u00e9lia Sim\u00f5es, Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, Ana Paula da, Ermel, C\u00e9lia, Mendes, Jo\u00e3o, Chaves, Erika, Carvalho, Em\u00edlia Campos de, and Vieira, Margarida (2016). 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