Developing the concept of caring in nursing education

BACKGROUND: Caring is a value-based concept in the nursing field and in education. Exact understanding of caring in education and developing this concept in nursing will result in the evolution of the position of nursing science and profession. AIM: The aim of this study was to attempt to develop the concept of caring in nursing education. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted in 2016 using directed content analysis. Participants were thirteen subjects (6 instructors and 7 senior and junior nursing students) who were selected using purposeful sampling method. Research environment was the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery in Mashhad. Data collection method was semi-structured interviews for thirty to ninety minutes and sampling continued until data saturation. Interviews were conducted in Persian language and they were immediately transcribed and analyzed using MAXDA10 software. The text of interviews was reviewed several times. First, open codes were extracted, and after several reviews based on similarity in meaning, they were classified into subcategories and finally, similar subcategories were placed in main classes based on meaning. RESULTS: Results of this study led to the identification of four themes: 1, ethical and religious commitment, 2, development of knowing and cultural sensitivity, 3, soft assertion, 4, clear describing of objectives, expectations, and educational rules for students. CONCLUSION: Results of this study showed that the cultural and religious background of instructors affects their interaction with students. Instructors’ commitment and compliance to values in interacting with students and other educational colleagues has an origin beyond ethical and human subjects and it is originated from their religious education and training.