Caring with Courage: An audiovisual tool to promote awareness of profession among nursing students

Background Nursing students begin their education with a limited understanding of the nursing profession. The Caring with Courage (CwC) series may contribute to strengthening their professional awareness. Aim To evaluate CwC as a pedagogical tool for enhancing nursing students’ awareness of their profession. Methods A pre–post quasi-experimental design was used with 121 nursing students. Participants completed a questionnaire, watched CwC videos, and then completed a second questionnaire. The analysis combined descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. Results 92.5% of participants reported that the videos positively changed their perception of nursing. Their professional definitions and expectations changed from a technical and hospital-centered vision to a more humanistic, global, and community-oriented. Their knowledge of different contexts, roles, and populations involved in nursing practice increased. In some cases, interest in working in socially vulnerable or resource-limited countries also increased. Students expressed high motivation to disseminate CwC as a tool to promote their profession. Conclusions Viewing CwC is an effective, accessible, and replicable intervention to strengthen professional awareness among nursing students at the beginning of their university education.