The concept of caring is fundamental to nursing practice. The aim of this study was to investigate patients' and nurses' caring behaviors and the possible differences between the two groups. In this descriptive and comparative study, 310 patients and 329 nurses from six general hospitals from Greece completed the Caring Behaviors Inventory-16. The mean score of Caring Behaviors Inventory-16 for patients was 78.94 (±17.85) and for nurses 80.27 (±9.36). The items "Demonstrating professional knowledge and skills" (Mean: 5.45 ± 3.62) and "Treating my information confidentially" (Mean: 5.34 ± 1.06) were the most important caring behaviors while the items "Including me in planning care" (Mean: 4.36 ± 1.56), and "Treating me as an individual" (Mean: 4.55 ± 1.46) were the least important caring behaviors for patients. For nurses, the most important caring behavior was "Treating patients" information confidentially" (Mean: 5.43 ± 0.94) and the least important was "Returning to the patient voluntarily" (Mean: 4.57 ± 3.68). Significant differences were observed in items: "Attentively listening to me/the patient" (t = -2.05, p = 0.04), "Treating me/the patient as an individual" (t = -7.82, p = 0.00), "Being empathetic or identifying with me/the patient" (t = -2.80, p = 0.00), and "Responding quickly when I/the patient call (t = -2.01, p = 0.04). Respect, privacy, and dignity were the most important caring behaviors for nurses while for patients they were knowledge, skills, and safety.
Keywords: caring behaviors; nurses; patients; perceptions.