Background <p>In helping professions such as nursing, caring is regarded as a fundamental principle. Observations of nursing students revealed both caring and non-caring behaviors, highlighting the complexity of professional development within clinical and educational settings.</p> Aim <p>This study sought to understand how Jordanian nursing students perceived the caring behavior of clinical instructors during their clinical training.</p> Method <p>A mixed-methods approach was utilized to recruit data from (<i>n</i> = 200) nursing students using the Nursing Students’ Perception of Instructor Caring (NCPIC) developed by Wade and Kasper (2006).</p> Result <p>The findings showed that the average mean score for clinical instructor behaviors perceived by nursing students was at a medium level (M = 3.40 out of 6). Four themes were extracted, namely, communication, professionalism, holistic caring (mothering), and motivation. In contrast, the non-caring behaviors were reflected in poor communication, governing, and unfavorable personal traits of the clinical instructors, as well as acting in a non-professional manner.</p> Conclusion <p>Caring has been emphasized as a key component of nursing education. It should be inherent in the behavior and actions of clinical instructors when they interact with nursing students in a clinical setting.</p> Clinical trial number <p>Not applicable.</p>