Purpose: This study aimed to examine the relationship between nursing students’ spiritual health, perceptions of spiritual care-giving, and self-compassion, and to identify the key predictors of self-compassion. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. Methods: The study included 410 nursing students enrolled at a state university in western Turkey. Data were collected using a sociodemographic characteristics form, the Spiritual Health Scale, the Spiritual Care-Giving Scale, and the Self-Compassion Scale. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression to identify predictors of self-compassion. Findings: Among the participants, 57.1% were aged 21–23, and 75.9% were female. The mean scores were 93.18 ± 13.49 for spiritual health, 140.25 ± 19.54 for spiritual care-giving, and 3.18 ± 0.55 for self-compassion. Positive and significant correlations were observed between self-compassion and both spiritual health and spiritual care-giving (p < .001). Multiple regression analysis identified spiritual health, spiritual care-giving, gender, academic achievement, psychological support, and participation in religious or faith-based activities as significant predictors of self-compassion (p < .005). Conclusions: The findings indicate that nursing students’ self-compassion is closely linked to their spiritual health and perceptions of spiritual care-giving. Integrating holistic and spiritual components into nursing education may enhance students’ self-compassion and foster the development of compassionate care in clinical practice.
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