Evaluation of nursing care behavior culture program’s implementation at Dharmais Cancer Hospital

Nurses use the concept of caring in providing nursing care. However, factors that influence nurses’ caring attitudes, such as job stress and dehumanization, make caring behavior decrease. Previous research showed that 52.9% of patients reported that the implementation of caring behavior by nurses in Dharmais Hospital was lacking. Our program offers a solution for building a caring culture among oncology nurses. Researcher team activities were carried out, including the socialization of a caring culture with 84 nurses, training for 16 head nurses as the change agent for guiding nurses, and a guidance program for 16 head nurses to act as champion to the rest of the nurses. The researcher evaluated the implementation of caring culture using focus group discussion (FGD) with the 16 head nurses. Eight themes were obtained from the FGD: observation guidance about caring behavior to help champions monitor and increase the nurses’ caring attitudes; training about caring to help nurses change their caring attitudes; excessive workload makes nurses display less-caring behavior; the WhatsApp application helps socialize a caring culture; spiritual power from the inside fosters caring behavior; support from hospital leaders is needed to encourage caring behavior; need for caring behavior training and therapeutic communication for all health care providers and administrative staff; and need for caring behavior standard operating procedures (SOP) and guidance from senior nurses. The number of nurses who perform caring well also increased by 38% after intervention (p = 0.021). Based on the FGD results, it was recommended to improve the caring culture behavior in the hospital through several efforts.