Across their lifespans, and in many clinical settings, patients have spiritual care needs. Many nurses lack competence related to providing spiritual care. Popular educational strategies, such as simulated educational programs and objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), have not been widely adopted in nursing spiritual care education. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of a scenario-based spiritual care course on spiritual care competence in nurses. This quasi-experimental study employed a repeated-measures pre-test/post-test design with assessments immediately before, immediately after, and 3 months post-intervention. Nurses providing direct patient care in diverse clinical settings were recruited from a large medical foundation in northern Taiwan. The intervention was a one day scenario-based spiritual care course and OSCE. The experimental group (n = 53) and controls (n = 85) were matched for their similar units, ages, working experience, and clinical ladder status. The Spiritual Care Competence Scale (SCCS), Spiritual Perspective Scale (SPS), Spiritual Care Perspective Scale-Revised (SCPS-R), and reflection logs were completed by both experimental and control groups. The Course Satisfaction Scale, OSCE Checklist, and Standardized Patient Feedback Scale (SPFS) were completed by the experimental group only. The experimental group had significantly higher SPS scores and self-evaluated SCCS scores, and lower SCPS-R scores (more positive spiritual perspectives), than controls at 3 months post-intervention. The experimental group showed significant within-subject effects at three time points on SPS scores, SCPS-R scores, and self-evaluated SCCS scores. Mean global performance of OSCE was 3.40 ± 0.91, and SP feedback indicated strengths and areas for improvement. In conclusion, the scenario-based spiritual care course effectively enhanced nurses’ spiritual care competence, competence, and skills. Blended education techniques can therefore enhance nurses’ ability to support patients with spiritual care needs.

Interprofessional collaborative practice is a core competency and is the key to strengthening health practice systems in order to deliver safe and high-quality nursing practice. However, there is no Interprofessional Collaboration Practice Competency Scale (IPCPCS) for clinical nurses in Taiwan. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to develop an IPCPCS and to verify its reliability and validity. This was a psychometric study with a cross-sectional survey using convenience sampling to recruit nurses from the seven hospitals of a medical foundation. A self-designed structured IPCPCS was rolled out via a Google survey. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, principal-axis factoring (PAF) with Promax rotation, Pearson correlation, reliability analysis, and one-way ANOVA. PAF analysis found that three factors could explain 77.76% of cumulative variance. These were collaborative leadership and interprofessional conflict resolution, interprofessional communication and team functioning, and role clarification and client-centered care. The internal consistency of the three factors (Cronbach’s α) was between 0.970 to 0.978, and the Pearson correlation coefficients were between 0.814 to 0.883. Significant differences were presented in the IPCPCS score by age, education level, total years of work experience, position on the nursing clinical ladder, and participation in interprofessional education. In conclusion, the three factors used in the IPCPCS have good reliability and construct validity. This scale can be used as an evaluation tool of in-service interprofessional education courses for clinical nurses.

Globally, the increase in the population of older adults (≥65 years) has been accompanied by a rise in the incidence of frailty [1,2]. Frailty is a geriatric syndrome characterised by decreased physiological reserves, sarcopenia, muscle weakness, and heightened vulnerability to external stressors [2,3]. These age-related declines compromise neuromuscular and functional integrity, positioning frailty as a […]

Watson’s Theory of Human Caring emphasizes ten Caritas Processes^®, providing a theoretical foundation for holistic nursing care. The Watson Caritas Patient Score (WCPS) has been validated internationally. However, to date, no culturally adapted Chinese version exists. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the WCPS into a Chinese version (WCPS-C), and examine its psychometric properties and convergent validity using the Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Care Scale. A cross-sectional study was conducted in two phases: (1) translation and cultural adaptation of the WCPS into Chinese, and (2) psychometric testing using two independent samples. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA, n = 104) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA, n = 221) were also performed. Data were collected from March 1 to September 8, 2025, at five hospitals in Taiwan. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s α for reliability, Pearson correlation for convergent validity, EFA with principal axis factoring and Promax rotation, and CFA using AMOS were conducted to evaluate construct validity and model fit. The participants’ demographics did not differ significantly between the EFA and CFA samples. EFA supported a one-factor structure (KMO = 0.813, Bartlett’s p < 0.001), explaining 82.34% of variance, with factor loadings ranging from 0.825 to 0.937. CFA confirmed good fit indices: χ²/df = 0.50, CFI = 1.000, RMSEA = 0.000, SRMR = 0.004; standardized factor loadings ranged from 0.825 to 0.937. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach’s α = 0.935). The WCPS-C scores showed a positive correlation with patient satisfaction (Spearman’s rho = 0.628–0.764, p < 0.001). The WCPS-C is a culturally relevant psychometric tool for assessing patients’ perceptions of nursing care in Taiwan. It captures the holistic dimensions of nursing care beyond traditional satisfaction measures. It can be applied in clinical settings to evaluate nurses’ caring behaviors, enhance caring competence, and guide quality improvement in nursing practice. Not applicable. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-026-04605-z.