Nursing Students' Perceptions of Caring

간호학생들의 돌봄에 대한 지각

Caring, according to Leininger, is the essence of nursing : it is the central and unifying domain of science and practice of nursing. The problem addressed by the this study was to explore nursing students' perceptions of caring. The purpose was to provide theoretical understanaling at how students conceptualize caring througout the three years of their educational preparation. The subjects for this study were 343 nursing students of one three - year Christian college of nursing in a major regional city in Korea. The data were collected from May 6 to 25, 1991, through an open - ended questionnaire. The data analysis used was descriptive method. Validity was strengthened by confirmations with by a doctoral candidate and three other nursing professors. From the data, 557 descriptive statements were organized into 70 taring behavior patterns and 16 categories of taring. The 16 categories were helping, comfort, love, concern, support, being present, protection, health maintenance, fulfillment. warmth, Instruction, empathy, trust, sharing, restoration and nurturance. The five categories primarily reported by first year students were, In order, helping, comfort:. restoration, protection, and love, by second year students, helping, comfort, love, being present, and support : and by third year students, helping, comfort, love, concern, and support. Instruction, empathy, trust, sharing and nurturance were least reported by the students. Instuction, trust and nurturance were not expressed by first year students. The Korean nursing student's concepts, of caring appeared to be similiar to Leininger's caring constructs but warmth and fulfillment were specified by these students. Theoretical understanding of concepts central to nursing contributes to the development at the discipline.