Abstract

This collaborative study examined the role of caring in the practices of student teachers and student nurses. Its purpose was to develop an instrument to assess student teachers’ and student nurses’ caring behaviors during clinical encounters with pupils and patients, respectively. The researchers developed the Caring Actions and Responses within Encounters Survey (CARES©) based on Noddings’ (1984) ethic of caring. The instrument was used in two parallel pilot studies with student teachers and student nurses. The study provides evidence that caring behaviors can be assessed by using the CARES© instruments to analyze student teachers’ and student nurses’ clinical encounters with their pupils and patients.