Associations Between Spiritual Sensitivity, Compassion, and Humanistic Practice Ability in Nurses: A Mediation Analysis.

AIM: This study was conducted to examine the association between nurses' spiritual sensitivity, compassion, and their humanistic practice ability, and to investigate the relationships among these variables. BACKGROUND: Humanistic values lie at the core of the nursing approach. These values include a person-centred, respectful, and empathetic attitude, and they are closely associated with the quality of care provided. Furthermore, these values are closely related to the concepts of spiritual and compassionate care. METHODS: This cross-sectional and correlational study included a total of 320 nurses. The convenience sampling method was used, and the study was conducted in Türkiye. Self-reported measures, which included the Spiritual Sensitivity Scale, the Compassion Scale, and the Humanistic Practice Ability of Nursing Scale, were completed through face-to-face interviews. RESULTS: This study found weak but significant positive correlations between nurses' spiritual sensitivity and compassion levels (r = .279, p < .001), between spiritual sensitivity and humanistic practice ability (r = .322, p < .001), and between compassion levels and humanistic practice ability (r = .373, p < .001). In the covariate-adjusted mediation analysis, spiritual sensitivity was significantly associated with humanistic practice ability (B = 0.602, SE = 0.102, t = 5.927, p < .001). The total-effect model including spiritual sensitivity and the specified covariates explained 11.4% of the variance in humanistic practice ability (R2 = .114), whereas the outcome model, additionally including compassion, explained 19.9% (R2 = .199). Compassion was significantly associated with humanistic practice ability in the latter model (B = 0.505, SE = 0.088, t = 5.766, p < .001). The findings were consistent with a partial mediation model, indicating a significant indirect statistical association between spiritual sensitivity and humanistic practice ability through compassion. DISCUSSION: This study examined the relationship between nurses' spiritual sensitivity and compassion levels and their humanistic practice ability, exploring the associations among these variables. CONCLUSIONS: This study found a significant relationship between spiritual sensitivity, compassion, and humanistic practice ability among nurses, and that higher levels of spiritual sensitivity and compassion are positively associated with humanistic practice ability. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: These research findings offer important implications for clinical practice by suggesting that spiritual sensitivity and compassion are positively associated with nurses' humanistic practice ability. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY: Nursing policies should address nurses' humanistic practice ability, spiritual sensitivity, and compassion holistically as complementary core professional competencies.