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. 2025 Dec;39(4):e70128.
doi: 10.1111/scs.70128.

Correlations Between Nursing Students' Caring Behaviour, Empathy, and Personality Traits: A Cross-Sectional Study

Mei-Ling Lin  1
Affiliations

Correlations Between Nursing Students' Caring Behaviour, Empathy, and Personality Traits: A Cross-Sectional Study

Mei-Ling Lin. Scand J Caring Sci. 2025 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Nursing, a profession centered on compassion and empathy, is influenced by personality traits, but their relationship has not been fully explored. This study investigates the links between caring behaviour, empathy, and personality traits in nursing students.

Methods: A cross-sectional study using convenience sampling surveyed 148 nursing students from a university in central Taiwan. Participants were university students aged 20 or above who had undertaken clinical practice. Data were gathered through structured questionnaires.

Results: Caring behaviour positively correlated with agreeableness, while empathy was positively associated with agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. Multiple regression showed that participation in caring training, empathy, and emotional stability were significant predictors of caring behaviour, explaining 15.9% of the variance. Although meaningful, this relatively low R2 indicates that additional factors may influence caring.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that empathy and emotional stability play important roles in shaping nursing students' caring behaviors, and targeted training can enhance these competencies.

Implications for nursing education: Nursing curricula should incorporate structured empathy workshops, simulation-based learning, and guided reflection to foster both technical competence and compassionate care. Nursing education can improve these abilities in students with diverse personalities through targeted interventions.

Keywords: caring behaviour; empathy; nursing student; personality.

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