Discussion
This study offers a view of the experience of learning
about caring from the perspectives of the baccalaureate
nursing students in Yunnan Province. Caring can be
learned by observing or experiencing caring incidents
because caring incidents can provide positive role
models and make us feel the caring atmosphere. This is
consistent with findings from previous studies in which
care role models are important for learning and also for
visible care images, and student nurses learn caring from
faculty role models as well as practicing nurses, furthermore,
caring begets caring [25-27]. Of particular note,
one participant cited her example of experiencing gratitude
and acacknowledgement from the patient due to
her effort in caring for the patient, which acted as a caring
experience, boosted students’ motivation to learn to
care. It is in agreement with research findings that when
encounters with patients are a rewarding experience that
give rise to positive emotions such as a sense of success
and self-confidence [28-30], the encounters can increase
students’ work motivation [31], hence facilitate their
learning about caring while working in the clinical field.
Besides, the positive feedback from the patient experienced
by the participant showed that they had established
a facilitative student-patient relationship focusing
on the common good for both the student and the patient,
which is seen as supporting the learning of care
[32,33]. It is noteworthy that student-patient relationship
includes aspects of both caring and learning, which is
seen as an important part of meaningful learning and is
connected with students’ personal and professional
growth [34].