Learning Caring: The Student’s Experience

Abstract

Caring has been identified as essential for baccalaureate nursing education across all programs of study. This study investigated the lived experience of students learning caring in a college of nursing grounded in a caring philosophy. Two major themes were identified from the research data: Innate Knowing of Self as Caring and Caring in the Curriculum. One student shared this thought, “I knew who I was and I knew I could care about people, but I didn’t know how to use caring in nursing. The educational process helped me to transfer caring to nursing.”