Understanding of caring - Radiography educators' perspectives

Caring is embedded in professional guidance documents, however the meaning of caring remains unclear. It is important to clarify the meaning of caring and identify caring behaviours because it is an integral part of radiography practice and radiography education. This article aimed to explore how radiography educators understand caring and how caring is demonstrated practically from their perspective.

A qualitative approach using online semi-structured interviews was used. Radiography educators were purposively selected. This was followed by quota sampling to ensure that participants represented all four disciplines in radiography. Thematic analysis was performed and five themes were identified from the data. Data saturation was achieved when no new themes emerged.

This study revealed that radiography educators valued caring behaviours as part of their profession and reasonably understood what caring entails. The ability to demonstrate caring during patient-practitioner encounters was seen as an essential part of a radiographer's role. An interesting finding was that participants viewed technical competency as how caring can be demonstrated.

There is evidence that points to a shared understanding of the meaning of caring but without clarity of how it looks practically in the radiography profession and by implication the radiography curriculum.

Given the importance of caring, consensus on competence standard requirements for caring is suggested. Radiography educators should emphasis the importance of caring and provide diverse learning opportunities for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to caring to develop it as a strong competence.