Moral distress in students: A cross- sectional study in educational environment

Moral distress in educational environments can be associated with multiple effects. Students who faced with this ethical challenge feel insecurity and dissatisfaction and so school dropout and failure will be increased in them. Low quality of teaching in these conditions could potentially cause a lack of scientific and clinical sufficiency and thus the performance of health systems to achieve the health goals will be at risk. This study aimed to assess the student's moral distress in Birjand paramedical school students. The Cross - Sectional study took on 600 students of paramedical school who were selected by census. To collect data, it was used a questionnaire of 20 questions. The validity and reliability of this questionnaire was evaluated and Cronbach's Alfa was calculated 81 percent. Data were collected by Spss16 software and were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings showed that the average of moral distress from total score was 0-5, (3/12±0/88) in the intensity and (3/5±1/2) in the frequency. There was a significant relationship between moral distress with years of educations and sex (P>0/05). Moderate level of moral distress in students requires the planning and some actions as students’ awareness to this phenomenon. Identification and control of this phenomenon in educational environments and investigating its reasons may play an important role in the control of this phenomenon and the prevention of its adverse effects in future.