The mediating role of empathy in relationships between conscientious intelligence and perceptions of spiritual care among Turkish nurses; A structural equation modelling

Aim This research aimed to determine the relationship between nurses' conscientious intelligence levels, empathy levels and perceptions of spiritual care. Material and Methods This research is cross-sectional type. This study was conducted with 315 nurses working in a training and research hospital in the east of Turkey. ‘Conscientious Intelligence Scale’, ‘Empathy Quotient Scale’ and ‘Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale’ are data collection tools. The descriptive analyses of the data obtained were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences 25.0 program and Analysis of Moment Structures 26.0 program. Results As a result of structural equation modelling, nurses’ conscientious intelligence levels had a positive and significant effect on their empathy levels (β ₁ : 0.169, p = 0.005), nurses’ empathy levels had a positive and significant effect on their perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care (β ₁ : 0.304, p < 0.001) and nurses' conscientious intelligence levels had a positive and significant effect on their perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care (β ₁ :0.311, p < 0.001). In addition, empathy mediated the relationship between conscientious intelligence and perception of spirituality and spiritual care (Two Tailed Significance value is 0.02 and below the 95% confidence interval). Conclusion As a result, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between nurses' levels of conscientious intelligence and their perceptions of empathy and spiritual care, and empathy mediated the relationship between conscientious intelligence and perception of spiritual care. In this context, it is thought that the development of empathy skills can play an important role in strengthening nurse-patient relationships and increasing patient satisfaction and can lead to concrete improvements in professional practices by integrating into nursing practices. For this, it is recommended that empathy-based intervention strategies should be integrated into nursing education curricula.