[Construction of a nursing care concept: contribution for undergraduate nursing education].

The purpose of this research was to construct a nursing care concept, based on the understanding of nurses and students from an undergraduate course. This is a qualitative study. A focus group was used to construct a nursing care concept for use in undergraduate teaching. The research was carried out at Faculdade Católica Rainha do Sertão in Quixadá, CE, Brazil, from August to December 2007. Three categories emerged from the process: the understanding of the care concept, nursing care and the meaning of care. The constructed concept involved attitudes of awareness, ethics, zeal, solidarity and love, which express a "know-how" based on science, art, ethics and esthetics, directed at individual, family and community needs.