Caring is an emotion. It is a feeling of compassion and an understanding of the difficulties of others. Research indicates that caring behaviors and attitudes are an important part of the knowledge base for nursing students. This descriptive study reports the findings of caring attitudes and behaviors of nursing students using the Caring Dimensions Inventory (CDI). The present study therefore was seeking to expand current knowledge development and to fill the gap as related to whether or not nurses' first choice in profession was nursing. This study builds on the concept of caring and adds to the knowledge base of nursing students and may contribute to further development of the nursing curriculum.
Methods:
Descriptive statistics were computed using the SPSS software to determine the distribution of variables in the sample. Data was then analyzed by using a t-test to determine the difference between the mean CDI scores of nursing students who chose nursing as a first career and nursing students who did not. A total of 121 students from accelerated and traditional baccalaureate programs answered the CDI questions. The demographic characteristics were the students’ age (groups 18-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41 and over), gender, race/ethnicity, and planned career trajectory. The independent variable was whether nursing students chose nursing as a first career or not. The dependent variable was the CDI score.
Results:
There was a significant difference on the CDI scores between those nursing students who chose nursing as a first career and nursing students who did not. In this sample the CDI had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.87. A total of 62 students chose nursing as their first choice of profession; they scored significantly higher on the CDI (mean 109.97, SD 10.20, p = .02) than those who did not choose nursing as their primary career choice. Out of the 103 females and 18 males; a CDI significance was not found. The oneway ANOVA of race did not show significance as well. However, an oneway ANOVA of age groups showed statistically significance between groups (mean square .44, p = .016). The post hoc multiple comparisons by ages also showed statistically significance on the CDI (mean .23572, p = .004).
Conclusion:
Caring is an essential concept of the nursing curriculum, and may be measured with the use of the CDI. Watson’s theory of human caring may serve as a philosophical context for a humanistic approach to care. Essentially, the results of the study may fill a gap in nursing knowledge in terms of what is known about BSN nursing students’ attitudes and caring behaviors. This study built on a concept of caring that adds to the knowledge base of the nursing students and contributes to future development of the nursing curriculum.
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