Nursing Students, Caring Attributes, and Opportunities for Educators

Abstract

Ensuring that caring individuals are graduated from colleges of nursing is necessary to meet the holistic needs of a multicultural society. Two instruments, The Nyberg’s Caring Assessment Scale and Nkongho’s Caring Ability Inventory, assessed caring attributes in pre-clinical Baccalaureate and Associate degree nursing students. Watson’s Theory of Human Caring was chosen as the theoretical foundation. Although most students had low to moderate levels of internal caring, some students in both groups possessed high levels of caring. Implications of the study suggest that caring education is needed during nursing school.