Abstract
M.Cur.
Caring is a natural capacity. This simply means that human beings care because they are human. It is a reciprocal process. It never takes place in a vacuum as the one caring must do it out of love, and respect for another human being and it must be done with the utmost gentleness, tolerance and consideration. In the nursing profession it is done to people who are in most instances vulnerable and in need of care. This therefore, dictates that the one caring must have appropriate values and act them out consistently. In the case of nurses, a set of appropriate professional values is needed to serve as a framework from which they can base their decisions and actions. These professional values must be such that they should facilitate caring in the product of the nursing education system. Scholars are in support of one another that as much as caring is a natural phenomenon, this must be taught and nurtured. Much has been said about the decaying moral fibre of the South African society. The nursing profession also does not escape this scourge. The Department Education recommended that a working group be formed to look at and work on 'values education to teach new values to the generation to come'. The ANC through its Ethical Transformation called for a moral renewal of the society. The nursing education system called for a caring campaign. The aim of this study was to describe guidelines to facilitate internalisation of professional values in student nurses to make them caring professionals. To realise this goal, the researcher undertook a quantitative and qualitative, descriptive, exploratory and contextual approach. The design was conducted in four (4) phases. Data was collected from the nurse educators through focus group interviews and from the student nurses by means of naive sketches. In phase 1 of the design, the groups were separately asked to describe their perceptions about which professional values they regarded as important for nursing. They were further more asked to describe how these professional values should be taught to student nurses in order to make them caring practitioners. Conceptualisation was undertaken in phase 2. Phase 3 focussed on document analysis to evaluate if the identified professional values and teaching strategies were reflected in the college curriculum. Guidelines were described in the last phase. These was to be used by the nurse educators and student nurses to facilitate caring in the practitioners of nursing The results of the study indicated that the groups identified appropriate professional values as well as teaching strategies to be used to facilitate caring. The documents that have been evaluated indicated and supported this. Some of the professional values as well as teaching strategies were indeed reflected in the college curriculum. The only problem that was noted was that the evaluation done in the college did not seem to support if these professional values are taught, or if the teaching strategies were indeed used. The tests and examination papers evaluated seem not support this. It also became clear that nurse educators needed to be moral agents or become role models to their students in this regard. From the guidelines it was highlighted that the values identified must form part of the college curriculum and be displayed on the college walls to be seen by all. The following guidelines were spelled out. Educators must periodically receive in service training on those teaching strategies that facilitate caring. It came out clearly that the quality assurance team must place values education high on their list of priorities. A concerted effort must be engaged in by all the stakeholders to ensure that both the formative and summative evaluations conducted in the nursing college reflect inclusion of identified professional values. Emphasis must be placed on the affective domain as it has been noted that teaching and evaluation in this domain are difficult to implement. The recommendations that emanated from the study are based on the findings that although values and teaching strategies were reflected in the college curriculum they did not seem to be appropriately taught and evaluated. It was, therefore, recommended that the guidelines described in the study be implemented. The researcher further recommended that the caring attitudes of nurse educators be explored, as they are the primary socialising agents.