Nursing students' perceptions of caring in Turkey

Purpose: To determine perception of caring and its contributing factors in nursing students. Method: The study was descriptive-correlation type. Students from a 4-year undergraduate nursing program in a university in Turkey were included in this study. The second-year through fourth-year student volunteers were interviewed to explore caring behavior in nursing students. This study was carried out through 233 students. The demographic data questionnaire and Caring Behaviors Inventory-24 were completed by students themselves in the classroom. Results: While total score in perception of students of caring, who were satisfied with nursing department, who found nursing appropriate profession for themselves, and who described caring in nursing as one of the major areas was higher, mean total score of students who had difficulty in providing care and that of second-year students was lower. Conclusions: It is determined that perception of caring is affected by the characteristics of the students.