Sacred Care in Context: Phenomenological Insights into Spiritual Care Practices Among Oncology Nurses in Saudi Arabia

Overview

This qualitative study examines the conceptualization and enactment of spiritual care among oncology nurses practicing in Saudi Arabia's Islamic healthcare context. Using descriptive phenomenological methodology, the research centers lived experience narratives of 22 registered oncology nurses across three Riyadh-based cancer centers. The inquiry addresses how nurses integrate spiritual care within professional nursing practice while operating within Islamic cultural frameworks and institutional constraints.

Methods and approach

The study employed a descriptive phenomenological design utilizing Colaizzi's systematic method for thematic analysis. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews with 22 oncology nurses employed in three cancer centers located in Riyadh. The phenomenological approach prioritized the first-person accounts of nurses' experiences, perceptions, and practices regarding spiritual care provision. Analysis followed Colaizzi's procedural framework to identify and extract essential themes from interview transcripts.

Results

Analysis yielded five primary thematic categories: spiritual care through an Islamic lens; sacred dimensions of nursing practice; professional-religious boundary navigation; family-centered spiritual support; and nurses' personal spiritual resources alongside associated challenges. Nurses characterized spiritual care as an integrated, relational component of nursing practice rather than discrete religious interventions. Conceptualizations encompassed compassionate presence, ethical mediation, family facilitation, and meaning-centered communication. Nurses frequently described spiritual care engagement as a form of worship (ibādah), demonstrating the embeddedness of Islamic moral and spiritual values within their professional identity and clinical decision-making.

Implications

Findings underscore the necessity for culturally responsive educational frameworks in spiritual care that acknowledge the Islamic context of Saudi healthcare practice. Institutional policies and professional development programs require reformulation to recognize spiritual care as a core nursing competency integrated within routine clinical practice rather than peripheral or supplementary. Healthcare organizations operating within Islamic contexts benefit from explicit acknowledgment of spiritual care's relational and sacred dimensions in professional standards and practice guidelines.