Revisiting the issue of co-dependency in nursing: caring or caretaking?

It is purported in the literature that individuals who demonstrate co-dependent traits (consistently taking responsibility for others to the point of neglecting onself) enter the nursing profession to fulfill pathological needs and that nursing encourages co-dependent behaviour through its focus on "caring." This study was undertaken to determine whether nursing students have higher co-dependency scores than students in other programs. Data were collected through a questionnaire. A continuum-based Co-dependency Index was constructed with a Caring and Caretaking Sub-index to allow for more accurate measurement of co-dependency traits. In contrast to results reported in the literature, one-tailed testing indicated no significant relationship between co-dependency and university program. The results of this study suggest the need for a continuum approach to measuring co-dependency, to ensure that the presence of caring behaviours in measurement tools do not create a bias against nursing, a profession based on caring.