Translation and adaptation of the spirituality and spiritual care rating scale in Portuguese palliative care nurses

Theoretical framework: The knowledge on spirituality in Nursing has increased in Portugal, but there is still low evidence on the nurses’ perception of this dimension of care, as well as limited instruments in portuguese which allow measuring related phenomena. The Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS) allows assessing the nurses’ perception of spirituality and spiritual care. Objectives: To translate, adapt and validate the SSCRS into portuguese in a sample of portuguese palliative care nurses. Methodology: Methodological study using a sample composed of 94 palliative care nurses. Results: The original structure of the 17-item scale was maintained during the scale validation process. A Cronbach’s alpha between 0.59 and 0.69 in the subscales and 0.76 in the total scale was obtained. These values are indicators of the scale’s reasonable reliability to be used in the population under study. Conclusion: The portuguese version of the SSCRS proved to be a reliable scale with content validity to assess the nurses’ perception of spirituality and spiritual care.