Jordanian Nursing Students' Perceptions of the Compassionate Actions of Their Clinical Instructors: A Mixed-Methods Study

Background In helping professions like nursing, caring is recognized as a crucial concept. In addition to identifying caring and non-caring behaviors among nursing students at a public military college in Amman, Jordan, Aim This study sought to understand how Jordanian nursing students perceived the caring behavior of clinical instructors during their clinical training. Method A mixed-methods approach was utilized to recruit data from (n = 200) nursing students using the Nursing Students' Perception of Instructor Caring (NCPIC) developed by Wade and Kasper (2006). Result The findings showed that the average mean score for clinical instructor behaviors perceived by nursing students was at the medium level (M = 3.40 out of 6). Four themes were extracted, namely, communication, professionalism, holistic caring (mothering), and motivation. In contrast, the non-caring behaviors were reflected in poor communication, governing, and unfavorable personal traits of the clinical instructors, as well as acting in a non-professional manner. Conclusion Caring has been emphasized as a key component of nursing education. It should be inherent in the behavior and actions of clinical teachers while they are dealing with nursing students in a clinical setting.