Abstract:
Aims:
The study aimed at exploring faculty caring behaviours from the perspectives of university students enrolled in Nursing and Midwifery programme
at one of the public universities in Malawi.
Background:
The concept of caring has to a larger extent been defined in the context of nursing practice and rarely in the context of nursing education. Caring
for students and nurturing a caring attitude in nursing education is the first place for students to learn about the most significant values of their
profession.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to describe faculty caring behaviours from the perspectives of university students who were studying for a degree
in Nursing and Midwifery programmes at one of the public universities in Malawi.
Methods:
A qualitative approach utilising descriptive phenomenology as a study design was used in this study. Data was collected through semi-structured
interviews at a public university in Malawi from ten (10) nursing and midwifery students who were purposively selected. All ethical considerations
were followed. Data were analysed using Colaizzi’s (1978) method.
Results:
Five themes emerged that defined faculty caring behaviours from the student’s perspective: (1) Being available, (2) Being respectful, (3) Seeing the
person in the student, (4) Being fair and (5) Communication.
Conclusion
Findings have shown that nursing and midwifery faculty display both caring and uncaring behaviours. The study recommends the establishment of
a curriculum with caring as one of its defining philosophies; the establishment of educational faculty - student interactions based on moral and
human caring principles, and advocating for faculty to embrace faculty caring to improve nursing and midwifery student's professional
socialisation
