• Evridiki Papastavrou, Georgios Efstathiou, and Andreas Charalambous.
• School of Health Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus. e.papastavrou@cut.ac.cy
• J Adv Nurs. 2011 Jun 1; 67 (6): 1191-205.

AimThis paper is a report of a systematic review conducted to test the hypothesis that nurses and patients perceive the concept of caring in nursing differently.BackgroundCaring is viewed as the central focus of nursing. However, despite its fundamental place in clinical practice, researchers and scholars have failed in reaching a common definition. This failure has led to eliciting for nebulous interpretations of the concept often leading to perplexity and opposing views between patients and nurses.Data SourcesExtensive search was conducted using MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE between March and May 2009 with no publishing time limit and the keywords 'care', 'caring', 'nurse', 'nursing', 'behavio(u)rs', 'patient', 'perception', 'quantitative' and 'comparative'.Review MethodsThis quantitative systematic review of comparative studies followed the guidance of the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. A seven-item 'yes' or 'no' checklist was developed and used for appraising the quality status of the selected literature. Narrative summary technique was used to report outcomes.ResultsEvidence of incongruence of perceptions between patients and nurses is mainly supported by the literature. Few studies, however, report aspects of congruence.ConclusionThere is considerable evidence of the assertion that there is no congruence of perceptions between patients and nurses as regards to which behaviours are considered caring and intended caring is not always perceived as such by the patient. Further research is needed, however, to generate more knowledge on the relationship between caring behaviours, patient outcomes and health or nursing costs.© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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