The Study of Caring Behaviors and Its Determinant Factors from the Perspective of Nurses in Educational Hospitals of Ardabil

Background & Aim: Understanding the nurse’s perception of care behaviors and determining factors affecting it are the first step in correcting inappropriate behaviors and improving the quality of nursing care. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of "determining the care behaviors and its determinants from nurses' point of view in Ardabil educational hospitals ". Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with 450 nurses working in Ardabil educational hospitals in 2017 in which the stratified random sampling method was used. Data-gathering tool was a standard three-part questionnaire on demographic characteristics, Wolf caring behaviors and the determinants of nursing care behaviors. Data were analyzed using descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and analytical (Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, ANOVA and Multivariate Regression Analysis) statistics in SPSS V21 software. Results: The mean and standard deviation of nurses' caring behaviors (5.27±0.24) were at the optimum level. From nurses' point of view, physical dimension of care (5.43±0.7) was more important than psychosocial dimension (5.17±0.6) (p=0.001). The most and the least important caring behaviors for nurses were medication (5.58±0.44) and patient's calling with her favorite name (4.20±0.86), respectively. Mean scores of caring behaviors in female nurses (5.26±0.7) were more than males (4.97±0.54) (p=0.001). The most important factor influencing nurses' caring behaviors was the responsibility (4.49±1.01) and the least important factor was related to patient's characteristics (3.50±1.1). Conclusion: The results showed that nurses' care behaviors were in the desired level and focused on the physical aspect of care. Therefore, in order to provide patient satisfaction, nurses should pay attention to both dimensions of caring behaviors (physical and psychosocial). It is suggested that psychosocial care should be emphasized in nursing in-service training.