Teaching caring in nursing: a needs assessment

Abstract

Despite the fact that caring is the heart of nursing, there is growing evidence that nurses are not as effective as they ought to be in their caring role. This signifies that more attention needs to be given to the teaching of caring. The aim of this study was to pave the way to initiate the process of research on teaching caring, by suggesting priority areas. The needs assessment design was used for the study. Five steps were involved to achieve the aims. The first was to explore the nature and meaning of caring as presented in the literature. The second was to review completed research on aspects of caring within the nursing context. The third was to investigate the position of caring in the present nursing education system. The fourth was to investigate ways of promoting the teaching of caring as advocated in the literature and the final step based on inferences made from the first four steps was to suggest priority areas for research on teaching caring in nursing.