Privacy in the elderly hospitalized in the internal wards of the Zahedan University of Medical Sciences and its relationship with the spiritual care of nursing workers

Researches in recent decades have suggested that paying attention to the spiritual dimension, including privacy and personal realm, is a requirement that gives the elderly an indescribable place in peace, vigor and vitality. Spiritual interventions have a significant impact on the process of healing and respecting the privacy of patients is among the dimensions of spiritual care. This is especially important in the elderly. This study was designed to determine the relationship between attitudes to spirituality and spiritual care in order to respect the privacy of the elderly in nursing and surgical wards of hospitals in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in 2013-2014.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of the community-based research sample, and included all of the nurses and surgical wards of hospitals in Zahedan Medical Sciences University respectively (Hospital Ali Khatam hospitals), respectively. Data gathering tool was a researcher-made, valid and reliable questionnaire for respecting the privacy in the elderly. Spirituality and spiritual care tool (SSCRS McSherry) was completed by nursing staff and data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential tests and software SPSS16.

The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of privacy compliance in the elderly is 106/5 ± 13/8 and the attitude toward spirituality and spiritual care is 57.64 ± 7/1, which is relatively high. There was no correlation between the two variables Privacy. There was no statistical relationship between the two variables. There was a significant relationship between age and privacy (p <0.05), so that with an increase in age, the privacy score was reduced. The privacy of elderly women is more than that of men.

The results showed that nurses are not paying enough attention to the privacy of the elderly. With increasing age, the respect the privacy lowers. Because spiritual care is one of the dimensions of recovery, the health and well-being of the patients, therefore, it is essential to pay more attention to this important issue, including privacy.