NURSES’ PERCEPTION OF IMPORTANCE OF CARING BEHAVIORS AND ITS DETERMINANT FACTORS

It is recognized globally that the theoretical foundations of nursing are based on
an understanding of caring. The purpose of this study was to investigate nurses’ perceptions of caring
behaviors and determinant factors.
Materials & Methods: This descriptive-comparative study included 143 nurses. The participants were
selected based on Quota sampling approach from four educational hospitals, Dec. 2010-Mar. 2011.
Data were gathered using two valid and reliable questionnaires, CDI-25, DNCB-38. Translation
accuracy and face validity of the Persian form of the CDI-25 and DNCB-38 were assured using expert
panel review. Reliability of the tools determined using test-retest and Cronbach's alpha. The statistical
analysis was performed using SPSS V. 18.0. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ttest, ANOVA, and Chi square. A p-value of less than .05 was considered statistically significant.
Result: There were no significant differences between overall scores of the psychosocial or technical
items of caring. There were statistically significance correlation between some demographic traits of
nurses (age, job experience, university of graduation, recruitment status) and their scores to DNCB
sub-items. Three most important reported caring behaviors were: being technically competent with a
clinical procedure, providing privacy for a patient, and involving a patient with his or her care. The
least important reported caring behavior was keeping relatives informed about a patient. Three most
important determinants of caring behavior were workload, interest in nursing profession, and job
satisfaction, but the only predictor of caring behaviors was participation in educational course about
‘caring’ after graduation.
Conclusion: Findings showed that despite the emphasis in nursing profession, some important
technical (e.g. assisting a patient with an activity of living) and psychological aspects of caring (e.g.
listening to a patient or Sitting with a patient) might be neglected. We suggest revision in in-service
education of the occupied nurses in order to improve quality of care and correction of misconceptions
about caring in nursing. Furthermore, we suggest changing student selection process to the nursing
course so that more interested students will select nursing profession.