Predictors of Academic Resilience Based on Spiritual Intelligence

Background Academic resilience protects nursing and health science students against mounting academic and clinical stress, yet its spiritual determinants remain underexamined. Because holistic nursing regards spiritual care as a core competency, students’ own spiritual resources may underpin resilience and future caregiving. This study examined whether spiritual intelligence predicts academic resilience at a faith-based Indonesian university. Method In a cross-sectional predictive study, 347 undergraduate and professional-program students completed validated 27-item measures of spiritual intelligence (seven dimensions) and academic resilience (four dimensions) online. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlations and simple, multiple, and hierarchical regression. Results Spiritual intelligence correlated strongly with academic resilience ( r = .73, p < .001), explaining 52.9% of its variance. Holistic perspective, vision, and flexibility were unique predictors. In hierarchical regression, spiritual intelligence added variance beyond eight nonsignificant covariates (Δ R 2 = .52, p < .001). Conclusions Spiritual intelligence is a robust, resource-based predictor of academic resilience, independent of sociodemographic characteristics. Interpreted through the Conservation of Resources theory and the caring, unitary traditions of holistic nursing, it operates as a trainable interior resource, at once self-sustaining and other-directed. Cultivating it fortifies students against adversity and forms the interior ground of presence, meaning-making, and compassionate relationships from which spiritually attuned, whole person care is offered.