Nurses' Perceptions of Caring at Work: Mixed-Methods Study, Quantitative Report

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Watson's Theory of Human Caring provides a framework for understanding caring within nursing practice.
• Assessing caring perceptions offers insights into the professional practice environment.
• The study focuses on a large healthcare system where human caring guides nursing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore registered nurses' (RNs) perceptions of self-care, co-worker caring, and leader caring.
• To evaluate the reliability and psychometric properties of three Watson Caritas Scores.
• To understand the influence of caring perceptions on the healthcare work environment.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative data collected via a mixed-methods descriptive, cross-sectional survey.
• Survey administered to 1307 RNs within a large healthcare system.
• Reliability and correlation analyses were performed on the Watson Caritas Scores.

Main Results:

• Mean scores for self-care, co-worker caring, and leader caring were 5.46, 5.39, and 5.53, respectively (scale 1-7).
• All caring dimensions positively correlated with the likelihood to recommend the organization, particularly leader caring.
• The three Watson Caritas Scales exhibited high internal reliability (≥0.9).

Conclusions:

• Nurse perceptions of caring significantly influence organizational reputation and professional practice environments.
• Assessing caring perceptions is crucial after implementing frameworks like Watson's Theory of Human Caring.
• The study supports the psychometric validity of the three Watson Caritas Scores for measuring caring.