title: First and Fourth-Year Student's Perceptions about Importance of Nursing Care Behaviors: Socialization toward Caring.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The essence of professional nursing is caring and so, nursing education must make caring as a significant part of their curricula. In this regard, little research exists about how nursing students perceive caring. The aim of this study is to investigate the nursing students' perception toward caring and thus, the impact of socialization process on their perception of caring will be determined.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was done among all first and fourth-year nursing students (n=230) in Tabriz and Urmia faculties of nursing, 2012. Data were collected using Larson's Caring Questionnaire that assessed the importance of nursing care behaviors (n=50) in six dimensions: "being accessible", "explains and facilitates", "comforts", "anticipates", "trusting relationship" and "monitors and follows through".
  
  
  RESULTS
  The importance of caring behaviors was evaluated by the first and fourth-year nursing students in moderate to high level and also, the both groups considered higher ranks for "monitors and follows through" and "being accessible" and lower ranks for "anticipates" and "trusting relationships". The fourth-year students only ranked "explains and facilitates" higher than the first-year students, but the "comforts" dimension is not differed significantly between groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings demonstrated that nursing education in this study has not likely succeeded in producing intended changes in the nursing students' perceptions. It is recommended to exactly find the perceptual changes or in principle the professional socialization process of nursing students, more research using longitudinal designs be conducted to examine the differences in students' perceptions of caring upon entering and completing the nursing program.
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Research Center, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zamanzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valizadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
authors.forename: Roghaieh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Azimzadeh
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Research Center, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aminaie
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Sedigeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yousefzadeh
keywords: Caring; Nursing; Socialization; Students