Importance of Nurses's Caring Behaviors as Perceived by Staff Nurses and Patients

Kim, Young Yi; Lee, Byoung Sook

Abstract

Nurse's caring behaviors are essential to help patients cope with their health problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the Importance of nurse's oaring behaviors as perceived by staff nurses and patients. The subjects were 295 staff nurses and 340 patients from five medical centers in Taegu. Data collection was done from Dec. 10, 1997 to Jan. 31, 1998. The tool for this study was a 7 point Likert type scale with 27 caring behaviors developed by Lee(1996). Cronbach alpha of the tool was .9701 in staff nurses and .9618 in patients. Data were analyzed with SAS using t-test, ANOVA and Spearman rank correlation program. The results are as follows: 1. The a verage score of perceived importance of nurse's caring behaviors for the 27 items was 5.65 in staff nurses and 4.97 in patients. 2. The most important caring behaviors perceived by the nurses was 'Nurse gives painless and cautious injection and treatment for patients 'and for the patients, 'Nurse gives hygienic treatment and nursing care'. 3. The caring behavior which showed a significant difference between the ranks of perceived importance by staff nurses and patients was 'to treat the patient with tenderness and friendship'. 4. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient between the ranks of importance perceived by staff nurses and patients was 0.8302. With the results of this study, the staff nurses could be recognized to have much enthusiasm and passion about caring. It is suggested that nurses let the public know about the nurses' caring roles. In the future, research to investigate the actual practice of nurses' caring behavior is necessary.