Paper
Thursday, 20 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Developing Surveys and Scales
Interdisciplinary Collaboration in the Development of an Instrument to Assess Ethical Caring in Student Nurses and Student Teachers
Cindy L. Brubaker, EdD, RN, Nursing, Bradley University, Peoria, IL, USA and Victoria Huffman, EdD, Teacher Education, Bradley University, Peoria, IL, USA.
Learning Objective #1: iIentify the components of ethical caring.
Learning Objective #2: Describe how ethical caring can be assessed using the CARES instruments.
Caring is said to be fundamental to both nursing and teaching. National accrediting agencies cite caring as a professional value that is desired in both nursing and teacher education graduates. However, there is little evidence that caring is being assessed in either discipline. This research study was a collaborative effort between the disciplines of nursing and teacher education. The purpose was to examine the role of caring within clinical experiences of student nurses and student teachers. The researchers developed The Caring Actions and Responses within Encounters Survey© (CARES) based on Noddings’ (1984) ethic of caring. The instrument was used in two parallel pilot studies with student nurses and their clinical nursing instructors; and student teachers and their cooperating teachers and university supervisors.  Two versions of the CARES© were developed: a self-report for students and an assessment for instructors. Surveys were further developed to reflect the population encountered in each sample group: CARES-Student Nurse Version© (SNV); CARES-Clinical Nursing Instructor Version© (CNIV); CARES-Student Teacher Version© (STV); CARES-Cooperating Teacher Version© (CTV), and CARES-University Supervisor Version© (USV).  The CARES© instruments were reviewed by a sample of expert users (recent graduates, clinical nursing instructors, cooperating teachers, university supervisors) and found to have good content validity.  Factor analysis indicated that the survey items are interdependent measures of an underlying dominant variable – caring. This supports Noddings’ assertion that all components must be present and are inextricably interrelated in ethical caring. The split-half reliability coefficients (.92-.98) indicate that the CARES© instruments have strong reliability. The item analyses and Cronhach’s alpha coefficients (.69-.97) indicate that the CARES© instruments have sufficient homogeneity. The results of the studies provide evidence that ethical caring can be assessed by using the CARES© instruments to analyze student nurse and student teacher clinical encounters with their patients and students. Caring can be measured.

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