The Effect of Ethics Education on the Ethical Sensitivity of Nursing Students


Creative Commons License

Tural Büyük E., BAYDIN N. Ü.

Türkiye Klinikleri Tıp Etiği-Hukuku Tarihi Dergisi, vol.29, no.2, pp.158-165, 2021 (Peer-Reviewed Journal) identifier

Abstract

Ethics education provided to nursing students is important in terms of the development of nurses’ ethical awareness and sensitivity in professional life. This study was carried out to determine the effect of the case analysis method on nursing students’ ethical sensitivity when used in ethics education. This study was planned using a cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational design, and was conducted between September and December 2019. The study population comprises 138 third-year nursing students. All participants were enrolled in the nursing history deontology and ethics of care course in the nursing department of the healthcare sciences faculty of a rooted university in the Black Sea region of Turkey during the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The study sample comprises 131 nursing students. The study data were collected using the personal information form, the Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire for Student Nurses (MMSQSN), and the Nursing Effectiveness of Ethics Education Scale (NEEES). Data were analyzed with the SPSS 18.0 software program using frequency, mean, standard deviation, and paired samples ttest. It was found that 46.6% of participating students encountered ethical issues in clinical practices, and that of these students, 27.5% encountered ethical issues regarding drug administration, care practices, and patient information. The mean MMSQSN score of the students before the education was 4.48±0.50, but was found to be 5.05±0.68 after the education; this was found to be a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). The mean NEEES score was 56.37±11.09. It was found that students encounter various ethical issues during clinical practice, that their ethical sensitivity was of a moderate level before the ethics education, that their ethical sensitivity increased after the education, and that students evaluated the ethics education as effective.