Gender as a Moderator of Spirituality and Spiritual Care in ICU Nurses During COVID-19 Pandemic

Ruqayya S Zeilani,1 Ahmad M R Al-Qunneh,2 Diana H Arabiat,1,3 Ayman Hamdan-Mansour1 1School of Nursing, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; 2Critical Care Nursing, Prince Faisal Bin Al Hussein Hospital, Zarqa, Jordan; 3School of Nursing and Midwifery, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, AustraliaCorrespondence: Ruqayya S Zeilani, School of Nursing, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan, Email r.zeilani@ju.edu.joBackground: Earlier research has found that female healthcare providers often report greater spirituality and spiritual care than males. This would evoke attention toward factors contributing to such differences, particularly gender.Aim: To examine the moderating effects of gender on the relationships between demographic characteristics of ICU nurses and their perceived spirituality and spiritual care.Methods: A cross-sectional correlational design was used to recruit a national sample of 865 nurses working in ICUs in Jordan and providing care to patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Data were collected using a self-report bilingual version of Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSC) and analysed using the SPSS software package.Results: Social status, monthly income, and receiving previous courses or lecture training on spirituality and spiritual care were predictors of higher SSCRS scores. Working with COVID-19 patients was a positive predictor (B = 0.074, p = 0.023), suggesting that working with COVID-19 patients is more likely to have a higher level of SSC. Gender was a negative predictor (B = − 0.066, p = 0.046), suggesting that female participants are likelier to have a lower SSC score.Conclusion: Working with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic positively impacted nurses’ perception of SCC, but female nurses had lower score than male nurses indicating the need for more emphasis on training female nurses and exploring further the areas in which they need more training and to be able to provide an effective SSC. A sustainable up-to-date training and in-service education programs responding to nurses’ needs and emerged emergencies crisis need to be integrated into nursing quality of care policy development.Keywords: spirituality, spiritual care, gender, nurses, COVID-19 pandemic, intensive care unit