Comparing Nurses and Patients’ Views About Caring Behaviors and its Dimensions in Nurses

Background: Care is a fundamental value in the nursing profession. Nurses’ caring behaviors are effective in patients’ satisfaction as one of the important indicators of the quality of health care. This study was conducted to compare the views of hospitalized patients and nurses about the caring behavior of nursing staff in Khalkhal. Materials and Methods: The present comparative-descriptive study was performed on 200 patients and 60 nurses of Imam Khomeini hospital in Khalkhal in 2018. Sampling was performed by a simple random sampling technique, and Caring Behavior Inventory (CBI-42) was used as the data collection tool. Finally, data were analyzed using SPSS software by descriptive statistical methods and the independent t-test. Results: The means and standard deviations of the total caring behavior from patients’ and nurses’ views were 5.42 ± 0.94 and 30.5 ± 0.59, respectively. There was no significant statistical difference between the nurses’ and patients’ viewpoints regarding each of the caring behaviors (P 0.05) although a statistically significant difference was observed between the overall score of nurses’ and patients’ views (t = 2.67, P = 0.048). Conclusion: Considering the key role of nurses in treating patients, the need for using appropriate caring behaviors will increase patients’ satisfaction with the treatment system. Therefore, it is suggested that training courses focus on patient-centered care in order to strengthen caring behaviors in nurses.