Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Caring Behaviors: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

This cross-sectional, comparative descriptive design study aimed to compare self-reports of perceived caring, measured by the Caring Behaviors Inventory-16 Student Version, in a convenience sample of undergraduate nursing students across three levels of the curriculum, second, third, and fourth years. The study evaluated their confidence in providing nursing care with a professional confidence Visual Analog Scale. Combined perceived caring and confidence scores increased on posttest and differed at a statistically significant level between pretest and posttest. Pretest and posttest perceived caring scores differed significantly among the three curriculum levels, for pretest confidence, but not for posttest senior level confidence. Convergent validity testing revealed a weak association between perceived caring and confidence in providing nursing care for patients. Cronbach’s alpha for the CBI-16 Student Version established beginning reliability. Perceived caring may be unintentionally part of a hidden curriculum through student experiences with patients, registered nurses, and faculty who model caring behaviors.