How nurses can apply spiritual care to improve the daily lives of people with learning disabilities and their families.

BACKGROUND

Most UK nursing research into spirituality overlooks its daily application in certain specialties, notably learning disability nursing.

AIMS: Tz explore spirituality over the lifespans of people with learning disabilities and how spiritual care affects their quality of life. To provide practical examples for nurses on how to apply spiritual care in their daily practice.

METHODS

A literature review conducted between January 2002 and July 2022) following recommendations from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Thomas and Harden's (2008) approach to thematic synthesis was used to structure 10 full-text articles into three key themes.

FINDINGS: The three key themes were: the role of the nurse, the impacts on the individual, and family/carer perspectives.

CONCLUSION

The nursing role in using spiritual care encompasses care planning an individual's spiritual activities, facilitating time alone, nurturing values such as self-acceptance, building therapeutic relationships, and advocating for progression in existing social structures and legislation.