Includes curriculum vitae.

ABSTRACT
Nursing profession can be defined as a one-to-one relationship with the patient. The helping relationship between the nurse and client, sometimes called "nurse-client relationship”. It is a process in which the helper (nurse) asked to intervene in the life of the client to help the client engage in more effective behavior. This helping relationship is therapeutic, promoting psychological change that brings positive client change and growth. The nurse is the person who nourishes, fosters and protects; a person prepared to take care of the sick, injured and aged people. The nurses' center of concern is the Once patient. The researchers of this study will attempt to confirm or disapprove one of the ephemeral beliefs that the public has been driven into. It has become a trite misconception that female nurses could function better than male nurses in terms caring behaviors. The researchers decided to take this controversial topic because of their concern to give some clarification regarding that matter. The main concern of the study, determined the caring behavior of male and female staff nurses in selected hospitals to have a better understanding regarding to the nurse-patient relationship and to know some ways in which a good caring behavior could be established and preserved.
The study attempted to answer the following questions: What is the profile of the respondents in terms of their: Age, Gender, Civil Status, Highest Educational Attainment, Length of Service or Work Experience and Work Position? What are the caring behaviors of male and female nurses? Is there a significant difference between caring behaviors of male and female nurses? The method that the researcher will use in this study is the descriptive and comparative survey type in which data's are distributed, collected, recorded and analyzed. This is a type of descriptive and comparative research approach in which data are gathered from relatively large number of cases at a particular time. The method is applied to the analysis of public opinion. In order to know the Caring Behavior of Nurses in selected Hospitals, the researchers used questionnaires as a tool. The researchers adopted the self made questionnaire tool used by Mr. Meiko Ozawa et.al in their study entitled "An investigation into Nurses Behavior with regards to Human Caring in Japan" Questionnaires will be personally distributed to get specific answer from the respondents (nurses). Consequently, the instrument consists of thirty five items. Likewise, the researchers discussed in Chapter 1 the significance of the study. The researchers also define their scope and limitations. Using accidental or incidental sampling (non-probability sampling technique), the researchers were able to achieved fifty(50) respondents, twenty-five (25) male and twenty five (25) females nurses in selected hospitals were Olivarez College- Health Related Science Department is were affiliated. Data were tabulated using percentage and frequency distribution tables and were were analyzed using test of central tendency. And the researchers founded that the caring behaviors of male nurses are the following: understanding and loving humanity, being comfortable in developing friendship with others, understanding the desire of others, using warm and kind expression, being open to others, being willing to help others without hesitation and having supportive exchange with others. While caring behaviors of female nurses are the following: loving others as well as one self/ allowing others to be human, being willing to develop companionship, respecting the opinion and rights of others/ understanding the desire of others, listening with understanding, being gentle and tender, believing in hope and being friendly to others. Male nurses got a highest score under the category of Essence of a Person and got a lowest score in the category Relationship. Female nurses got highest score in the category of Healing but got a lowest score in the category of Human/ Economic Resource Exchange To test for the difference of two modalities, the data gathered on the caring behaviors of nurses were tabulated and t- test was utilized to test for the hypothesis or how the signuficant differences in the caring behavior of nurses were. The result of the study revealed that there is significant difference between the caring behaviors of male and female nurses. . Both of them have distinct and unique characteristics in terms of Tendering care to their patient. In light of the results of the study, the researcher would like to recommend the following: First, caring as the core of nursing should be made an integral part of the philosophy of the Nursing service. Second, since the caring behavior is part and parcel of being a nurse, the nursing curriculum should be enriched so that caring is given more emphasis and may threaded through in all nursing subject. Third, a nurse should feel being cared for and appreciated in order to care. Therefore there is a need for head nurse, supervisor or administrator to demonstrate the caring behaviors towards the staff nurse. A saying goes caring is caught and taught. Forth, to further improve the validity and reliability of the study, future study relating to this one may increase the sample size that will increase the statistical measure and reduce error level. Fifth, Further studies can be made for the: Exploring other factors that may influence the caring behavior of the staff nurses, Investigating the perception of the supervisor and peers of the staff nurses regarding caring behaviors. Validating the researcher's instrument to a bigger number of respondents in different setting. Sixth, conduct a seminar for the purposes of upgrading knowledge of nurses and keep them reminded of their behavior in dealing with their patient. Seventh, the questionnaire used by the researcher can be used and improve as bases for an evaluation tool to evaluate or know ones caring behavior and potential.