Final answer:
A nursing program based on care ethics, emphasizing the importance of relationships and caring in nursing practice, would best align with the student's belief that the essence of nursing is caring.
Step-by-step explanation:
The prospective nursing student seeking a nursing program that aligns with her belief that the essence of nursing is "Caring" would likely find a program based on care ethics to be the best fit. Care ethics is closely aligned with nursing philosophies that prioritize the relationships between caregiver and patient, focusing on moral reasoning that accounts for the unique situations and relationships rather than strictly applying abstract rules. Known for her significant contributions to care ethics, Nel Noddings emphasizes that ethical caring is fundamental and arises from women's experiences in caregiving roles, suggesting that care should be the ethical paradigm for nursing.
Care ethics takes character-centered and feminine approaches to moral deliberation, rejecting the application of abstract principles in favor of subjective, concrete factors considering compassion, empathy, and responsibility. In nursing education and practice, fostering a care-based approach in alignment with these values will lead to improved patient outcomes and support the student's core belief in the centrality of caring in nursing. Therefore, nursing programs that integrate the care ethics theory by thinkers like Nel Noddings and Carol Gilligan would best meet the needs of the student who believes that caring is the essence of nursing.