Analysis of the Domestic Research Trends on Spiritual Health
Purpose: This study aims to analyze the domestic studies on spiritual health to confirm research trends and present future direction. Methods: This study adopts the scoping review method, which comprises six stages: 1) identify the initial research question; 2) identify the relevant studies; 3) study selection; 4) “charting” the data; 5) collate, summarize, and report the results; and 6) optional consultation. An analysis of 372 research works between 1980 and 2022 was carried out. Results: Among the 372 studies reviewed, 218 were on nursing. The most frequently used study design was survey-correlational. The majority of study participants were patients and nursing students. The main research topic was spiritual well-being. In interventional research, the most frequently used program was spiritual care and spiritual care education. In the survey-correlational study, the variable of spiritual health had a positive relation with quality of life and mental health and a negative relation with depression and anxiety. The main instrument used for measuring variables was Paloutzian and Ellison’s spiritual well-being scale. Conclusion: The domestic research about spiritual health needs to utilize a variety of approaches, including tool development studies suitable for the Korean people, qualitative studies, systemic reviews and meta-analyses on spiritual health promotion program, typifying variables related to spiritual health.