The impact of nurse education on the caring behaviours of nursing students

SummaryThis study aimed to ascertain whether nursing students’ perceptions of caring behaviours as part of nursing practice change over a three-year, pre-registration, undergraduate nursing course. Students are expected to have a predisposition to care with nurse education nurturing and developing this into professional caring behaviour. However, there is some evidence that this process inures rather than develops these behaviours.This was a quantitative, single cross section survey of two nursing student cohorts from one Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Wales, United Kingdom (UK). There were two sample groups; sample group A were 80 first year students and sample group B were 94 third year students. Students completed a questionnaire incorporating the caring behaviors inventory (CBI) [Wolf, Z.R., Colahan, M., Costello, A., Warwick, F., Ambrose, M.S., Giardino, E.R., 1994. Dimensions of nurse caring. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 26 (2), 107–111].The key finding was a statistically significant difference in the means in caring behaviours between first years and third years with third years scoring lower than first years. This was exaggerated for those under 26 and increased further for those under 26 with no previous experience of caring. Caring is a core nursing value and a desirable attribute in nursing students, but the educational process seemed to reduce their caring behaviours.