Date
4-17-2024
Department
School of Nursing
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Chair
Elizabeth Whorley
Keywords
spiritual formation, spirituality, resiliency, undergraduate nursing student, Christian education
Disciplines
Education | Nursing
Recommended Citation
Fair, Lynette Rae, "The Impact of Christian Education on Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Levels of Spirituality and Resiliency" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5327.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5327
Abstract
Nursing education must focus on preparing nursing students to be adaptable and resilient in the face of changing circumstances. The problem is there is a lack of research studies focused on evaluating the effect of a Christian college/education setting on nursing students’ level of spirituality and resilience. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to examine the differences between Christian and non-faith-based pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing education programs for spirituality and resiliency. This descriptive, non-experimental, cross-sectional comparative study utilized two key self-report instruments: the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Data collection occurred through an electronic survey in Qualtrics® including items from both instruments and consent. The sample of baccalaureate pre-licensure students was N = 85, Christian (n = 53) and non-faith-based (n = 32). Data analysis occurred using SPSS and utilized independent samples t-test. An alpha of < .05 was considered significant. Hypothesis 1a found no statistically significant difference between the comparison groups for spirituality. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis for hypothesis 1a at 95% confidence level where t(48.74, 83) = -.43, p = .336, one-tailed and Hedge’s g = -.103. Hypothesis 1b found a statistically significant difference between the comparison groups for resilience. The researcher rejected the null hypothesis at 95% confidence level where t(59.98, 83) = -1.72, p = .045, one-tailed and Hedge’s g = -.393. It is recommended future research expand the population beyond the small sample size Controlling demographics and profession faith is recommended to establish two distinct comparison groups and reduce confounding variables.
