Problem – Nursing requires a wide-range knowledge of illness, medications, and technology; however, it is not enough to simply possess these qualities to be a compentent effective nurse. Nursing also requires emotional aspects such as caring, nurturing, and compassion. Thus, changes must be made at educational institutions to devote more attention to cultivating caring among nursing students. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to explore the question, Do nursing students’ perceptions of caring change after completion of A Nursing Student’s Guide to Caring, a course aimed at nurturing the affective domain? This project investigated the value of caring as a productive framework for transforming nursing curriculum to enhance effectiveness and quality of patient care. Goal: The goal of this project was to plan, design, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of a nursing caring curriculum. Design: Jean Watson’s model of human care and Sharon Dingman’s caring model were used as theoretical frameworks for this project. Both theories define behaviors and principles that contribute to the understanding of human caring. The Caring Dimensions Inventory instrument tool was used to measure second semester student nurses’ perceptions of caring. Pre and posttests helped determine whether student nurses perceptions of caring changed following completion of the course A Nursing Student’s Guide to Caring. The Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice model acted as a guide for this project, as it focuses on the implementation of evidence-based practice via structured programs of nursing education. Kurt Lewin’s change theory supported this project which sought to change nursing students’ perceptions of caring with the letting go of old unproductive patterns and move towards a more productive change of establishing new perceptions of caring. Outcome: The intended outcome of this capstone project was to change nursing students’ perceptions of caring after completing A Nursing Student’s Guide to Caring course. Posttest perceptions of nurse caring did increase with statistical significance following instruction in the course. These findings can be translated to, a change in nursing students’ caring perceptions occurred following a focused caring educational intervention.
