Procedure
A questionnaire was created based on the pilot
phenomenological study (Kisvetrová and Kutnohorska, 2010). As well as asking for
demographic data, including the respondent’s
religiosity, it contained 29 sets of questions that
corresponded to each activity defined in the NIC
intervention Spiritual Support (Bulechek et al,
2008). It asked participants to rate each item on
two 5-point Likert scales—one relating to
frequency of use and the other to feasibility of
implementing into practice—with values for the
first scale ranging from 1=always to 5=never and
for the second from 1=always to 5=don’t know.
Internal consistency was tested in a pilot study
that was attended by 20 nurses from clinical practice,
and Cronbach’s alpha was found to be 0.92.
Opinions on the importance of each item to caring
for patients with death anxiety in the final stage of
life were also sought via ‘yes’/‘no’ questions.
Furthermore, the questionnaire contained one
open question: the nurses were able to describe the
circumstances that affect the implementation of
the Spiritual Support intervention activities.