Beyond Professional Practice: Teaching Nursing Students to Care

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Primary Author:</td>
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Laurel K. Bradshaw, DNP, RN</td>
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Co-Principal Investigators/Collaborators:</td>
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N/A</td>
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Organization:</td>
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Utah Valley University</td>
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Abstract</h2>
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Purpose</h3>
<p>The purpose of this project was to explore the question, Do nursing students’ perceptions of caring change after completion of “A Nursing Student’s Guide to Caring,” a course aimed at nurturing the affective domain? </p>
<h3>
Background</h3>
<p>Nursing requires a wide-range knowledge of illness, medications, and technology; however, it is not enough to simply possess these qualities to be a competent effective nurse. Nursing also requires emotional aspects such as caring, nurturing, and compassion. Thus, changes must be made at educational institutions to devote more attention to cultivating caring among nursing students. </p>
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Materials & Methods</h3>
<p>The Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice model acted as a guide for this project, as it focuses on the implementation of evidence-based practice via structured programs of nursing education. The goal of this project was to plan, design, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of a nursing caring curriculum. Jean Watson’s model of human care and Sharon Dingman’s caring model were used as theoretical frameworks for this project. Both theories define behaviors and principles that contribute to the understanding of human caring. The Caring Dimensions Inventory (CDI) instrument tool was used to measure second semester student nurses’ perceptions of caring. Pre and post tests helped determine whether student nurses perceptions of caring changed following completion of the course “A Nursing Student’s Guide to Caring.” Thirty-five nursing students completed questionnaires prior to and following the educational training. </p>
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Results</h3>
<p>There were statistically significant improvements between pre and post scores of all items (p < 0.05) within the CDI, with exception to item 16 (p = 0.29). Results of the t-test indicated that second semester nursing students’ self-evaluation of their personal caring behaviors were significantly higher at the end of the semester (p < 0.05).</p>
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Conclusion</h3>
<p> These findings suggest that student nurses’ perceptions of caring within nursing practice can be altered through educational intervention on caring.</p>
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Bibliography</h3>
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<li>
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (1998). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Washington, DC: Author.</li>
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Beck, C. T. (2001). Caring within nursing education: A metasynthesis. Journal of Nursing Education, 40(3), 101-109.</li>
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Dietze, E. V., & Orb, A. (2000). Compassionate care: A moral dimension of nursing. Nursing Inquiry, 7(3), 166-174.</li>
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Dingman, S. K., Williams, M., Fosbinder, D., & Warnick, M. (1999). Implementing a caring model to improve patient satisfaction. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 29(12), 30-37.</li>
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Finfgeld-Connett, D. (2008). Meta-synthesis of caring in nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(1), 196-204.</li>
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Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. (2007). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.</li>
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Lee-Hsieh, J. (2003). An educational strategy to enhance caring in nursing students in an associate degree program. International Journal for Human Caring, 7(1), 27-33.</li>
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McCance, T., Slater, P., & McCormack, B. (2008). Using the caring dimensions inventory as an indicator of person-centered nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18, 409-417.</li>
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Newhouse, R. P., Dearholt, S. L, Poe, S. S., Pugh, L. C., & White, K. M. (2007). John Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice model and guidelines. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International.</li>
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Simonson, C. L. S. (1996). Teaching caring to nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 35(3), 100-104. </li>
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Watson, J. (2008). Nursing: The philosophy and science of caring (Rev. ed.). Boulder, CO: The University Press of Colorado.</li>
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Watson, R., Deary, I. J., & Lea, A. (1999). A longitudinal study into the perceptions of caring among student nurses using multivariate analysis of the caring dimensions inventory. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 30(5), 1080-1089.</li>
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Watson, R., & Lea, A. (1997). The caring dimensions inventory (CDI): Content validity, reliability and scaling. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25, 87-94.</li>
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Watson, R., & Lea, A. (2002). Caring dimensions inventory. In J. Watson (Ed.), Assessing and measuring caring in nursing and health science (pp. 182-183). New York, NY: Springer.</li>
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<p>© Improvement Science Research Network, 2012</p>
<p>The ISRN published this as received and with permission from the author(s).</p>