The View of Nurses toward Prioritizing the Caring Behaviors in Cancer Patients

There are many opportunities for nurses to assist improving patient’s experience of cancer. In fact, in every stage of cancer process, nurses can provide the required and necessary cares and supports by representing substantial caring behaviors. Thus, by identifying and understanding the importance of caring behaviors which led to nurse-patient effective interactions, nurses would be able to care better for patients and so to enhance patients’ satisfaction toward nursing services. However, a few studies have ever been done about perception of oncology nurses about prioritization of caring behaviors. This was a descriptive study done among all the nurses of oncology wards (n = 40) in Shahid-Ghazi-Tabatabaei Hospital of Tabriz in 2009. Data collection performed using Larson’s CARE-Q tool that assessed the importance of caring behaviors in six subscales as the following: “Monitors and follows through”, “Explains and facilitates”, “Physical and emotional comforts”, “Trusting relationship”, “Anticipates” and “Being accessible”. In this study, the importance of caring behaviors was evaluated in moderate to high level and the priorities of care dimensions were determined. “Monitors and follows through” and “Being accessible” received a high priority and “Anticipates”, “Explains and facilitates”, “Physical and emotional comforts” and “Trusting relationship” were given the low priority by nurses. The difference of caring prioritization by the nurses of this study compared to other studies can be attributed to the influence of cultural background on caring. Considering the high prioritizing of “Monitors and follows through” and “Being accessible”, nursing service officials and planners are recommended to attempt providing prerequisites of these two caring aspects.