article · Scientific Reports
Holistic palliative care requires nursing professionals to address patients' spiritual needs alongside clinical support. This cross-sectional study investigated how self-compassion and palliative care self-efficacy relate to spiritual care preparedness among 284 third- and fourth-year nursing students at a university in Saudi Arabia. Measurements were gathered using validated self-report surveys and evaluated with robust regression and bootstrap analyses. Participants reported moderate levels of self-compassion and spiritual care preparedness, alongside modest palliative care self-efficacy. Higher self-compassion and greater palliative care self-efficacy were each significantly associated with stronger spiritual care preparedness. Additionally, palliative care self-efficacy demonstrated a notable indirect link between self-compassion and preparedness. These findings indicate that psychological resources and confidence-building may be valuable elements to examine within nursing curricula, although longitudinal research is needed to establish causal relationships.
Delivering effective palliative care requires healthcare professionals to support patients spiritually as well as medically. By identifying links between personal self-compassion, clinical confidence, and spiritual care readiness, this research helps educators recognise which psychological capabilities may underpin comprehensive end-of-life care training for emerging nurses.
This early-stage observational study could eventually inform curriculum design, assessment tools, or continuing professional development programmes for nursing schools and healthcare training providers. However, because the study assesses correlations without testing specific educational interventions, practical and commercial applications remain at an early concept stage and require structured intervention trials before real-world adoption.
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Preparing nursing students to deliver holistic palliative care requires both clinical competence and readiness to address patients' spiritual needs. Spiritual care preparedness may be associated with psychological resources and educational experiences; however, these relationships remain insufficiently understood, particularly in culturally specific contexts such as Saudi Arabia. To examine the associations among self-compassion, palliative care self-efficacy, and spiritual care preparedness among nursing students, and to explore whether palliative care self-efficacy demonstrates a cross-sectional indirect association between self-compassion and spiritual care preparedness. A single-center cross-sectional study was conducted between March and April 2026 among 284 third- and fourth-year nursing students at Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires, including the Self-Compassion Scale, the Palliative Care Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Student Survey of Spiritual Care. Data were analyzed using heteroscedasticity-robust regression models and bootstrap-based indirect effect analysis, adjusting for demographic and educational variables. Participants reported modest palliative care self-efficacy (M = 2.39, SD = 0.75), moderate spiritual care preparedness (M = 4.10, SD = 0.95), and moderate self-compassion (M = 3.19, SD = 0.78). In adjusted analyses, spiritual care preparedness was positively associated with higher self-compassion (B = 0.352, p < .001) and higher palliative care self-efficacy (B = 0.328, p < .001). Bootstrap analysis indicated a significant indirect association of self-compassion with spiritual care preparedness through palliative care self-efficacy (indirect effect B = 0.063; 95% BCa CI: 0.020-0.128). Self-compassion and palliative care self-efficacy were positively associated with spiritual care preparedness among nursing students. The findings also suggest a cross-sectional indirect association involving palliative care self-efficacy; however, the study design does not permit conclusions regarding causal pathways or mechanisms. These results support further investigation of confidence-building and psychological skill development in palliative care education through longitudinal and interventional research.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-64886-x
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