Caring is at the center of nursing. Nevertheless, nurses seek to learn more about the meanings and common practices of caring as well as how to teach and enhance these practices. This article describes undergraduate and graduate nursing courses in caring that the authors developed and taught for more than eight years. Course foundations, organizational themes, structural patterns, and teaching strategies are presented. A phenomenological worldview that is consistent with Diekelmann’s “Concernful Practices of Teaching and Learning” undergirds course design. Emphasis is given to personal, aesthetic, ethical, and spiritual patterns of knowing and being, although empirical patterns are included. The structure of the courses focuses sequentially on care of self, care of others, and the creation of caring communities. Each class session is organized to include opportunities for reflection, lecture, discussion, and experiential exercises. Various expressions and interpretations of caring such as story, play, meditation, music, literature, and other art forms are used as teaching strategies. Journal writing is done regularly to encourage the habit of reflective practice.
Creating and Measuring Social Presence in Online Graduate Nursing Courses
