Abstract:

This study aims to determine nursing and midwifery students' care behaviors and their empathic tendencies. 252 students (188 nursing, 64 midwifery) were participated to this study. Most of the students participating in this study are women (201 women, 51 men). In this study, ‘Socio-Demographic Survey Form’, ‘Caring Assessment Questionnaire (Care-Q)’ and ‘Empathic Tendency Scale’ were conducted as data collection tools. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Kruskal Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results indicated that though nursing students’ empathy tendency was greater than midwifery ones, no significant mean difference was found between them with respect to their empathy tendency. A significant mean difference was found between the empathy tendencies of the students who chose the profession willingly and unintentionally. Not surprisingly, the empathy tendency of the students who chose their professions willingly was higher than those who do not. Whether the students' empathy tendencies changes according to their grade levels was also investigated. No significant difference was found between the empathic tendencies of 2nd-3rd grade, 3rd-4th grade and 2nd-4th grade students. It is noteworthy that the 2nd grade students' empathy tendency was found to be higher than the other class of students. No significant mean difference was found between female and male students in terms of their perception of care behavior for each subgroup of Care-Q and total Care-Q scores. On the other hand, significant mean difference was found between nursing and midwifery students in terms of total Care-Q scores in favor of nursing students. In addition, significant mean difference was found between those students for each ‘accessibles’ and ‘explains and facilitates’ subgroups of Care-Q in favor of nursing students. There was no significant mean difference between the students’ perceptions of care behavior according to their career choice. In other words, students' willingness/eager or random selection (career preferences) of their department they are studying had no impact on their care evaluation behaviors. Students' perceptions of care behavior were examined according to their department and significant mean difference was determined between the 2nd-3rd grade and 3rd-4th grade students in terms of the accessibility sub-dimension of Care-Q test.

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