Revisiting our roots: caring in nursing curriculum design

Abstract

It is widely accepted that a caring curriculum is integral to nursing education. Caring as a concept is extensively cited in the literature as a core value in nursing education and nursing practice. What is not evident is the curricular designs used by nurse educators to enable students to internalize caring behaviors. The literature supports the internalization of affective learning through hierarchically structured learning objectives, and the movement from emotional to reflexive responses through critical reflection. Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia's (1964) taxonomy of affective objectives and concepts from Mezirow's (2000) transformational learning theory were used to synthesize the integration of caring affective objectives into the design of the nursing curricula. The expected outcome of such integration is a nursing curriculum that progressively supports the development of nursing students' caring behaviors that are consistent with the ideals of the profession. Examples of hierarchically leveled caring objectives are provided.