The Efficacy of a Caring Teaching Module on Self-Reported Caring Behaviors of Online RN-BSN Students

Nurses’ expressions of caring behaviors have the ability to make a difference in not only the outcomes of patients but enhance patient safety and job satisfaction in the nurse, assisting in alleviating the nursing shortage (Wei & Watson, 2019). Nursing curricula should include training on caring behaviors by the nurse. This study was conducted to determine if nurses in an online RN-BSN program are affected by a caring teaching module intervention. The increase in technology and nurses’ workloads leave less time to engage in a transpersonal caring moment which is as important to the patient as technological competency (Sitzman & Watson, 2017). Previous research has indicated that caring is an important concept but has not been carried out with online RN-BSN students using a caring module using Watson’s theory of human caring as the framework combined with Thich Nhat Hanh’s mindfulness teachings. Studies have been done on other groups of students, on patients, and on faculty, on what constitutes caring behaviors. Not all validated and reliable instruments on caring behaviors are based on Watson’s theory. The researcher used the Caring Efficacy Scale (Coates, 1996), further indicating congruency in the study since the author used Watson’s theory framework as one of the foundations. The study did not contribute statistical significance to research with only two viable participants, but did identify the significance of caring behaviors to patients and a gap in the research through a comprehensive review of the literature.