Religion, world view and the nurse: results of a quantitative survey among Flemish palliative care nurses.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: To study the religious or ideological views and practices of palliative care nurses. METHOD: An anonymous questionnaire was sent to all nurses (n=589) employed in palliative care in Flanders, Belgium. A total of 70.5% of the nurses (n=415) responded. RESULTS: Four meaningful factors were found the ideological dimension, the intellectual dimension, the ritualistic dimension, and the experiential dimension. Five religious or ideological clusters were found atheists/agnostics (n=66, 18.3%), 'doubters' (n=64, 17.8%), church-going respondents (n=106, 29.4%), religious but not church-going respondents (n=64, 17.8%), and devout church-going respondents (n=60, 16.7%). Older nurses were more committed to the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Many nurses take the freedom to compose their own religious or ideological identity. CONCLUSION: A large majority of the nurses are interested in religious issues. Yet, their attitude toward religion and world view is noncommittal.