Caring ability of nursing students pre- and post-internship: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: Nursing students’ internship experiences may significantly impact their caring ability. However, there is a lack of comprehensive evaluation of undergraduate nursing students' caring ability pre-and post-internship in China. This study aimed to explore the differences in the caring ability of undergraduate nursing students before and after internship. METHODS: The sample comprised 305 undergraduate nursing students who had undergone internships during 2018–2020 in three hospitals in Changsha, China. Caring Ability Inventory was used to measure and compare nursing students' caring ability before and after internship. Descriptive statistics and paired t-test were employed to analyze data in SPSS software (version 22.0). RESULTS: A total of 300 students completed the survey (response rate = 98.37%). The overall score of caring ability and scores of cognitive and patience dimensions were higher after internship than before internship (P < 0.05). There was no significant improvement in the courage dimension (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Caring ability of undergraduate nursing students in China was at a low level, their overall caring ability significantly improved after the internship, indicating a positive relationship between internship and caring ability. Nursing educators and clinical nurses should emphasize the importance of caring ability development in internship planning and encourage nursing students to engage more with patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-022-00921-2.