MORAL INTELLIGENCE AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NURSES WORKING IN INTENSIVE CARE UNITS: A DESCRIPTIVE-CORRELATIONAL STUDY

Moral intelligence is one of the dimensions of intelligence that can provide a framework for the correct functioning of humans and is theoretically considered as a predictor of behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between moral intelligence and demographic characteristics of nurses working in intensive care units.

The present study is a descriptive-correlational one conducted in 2009. The study population included 112 nurses working in the ICU wards of public hospitals in Amol city who were selected by census method. For data collection, demographic information form and standard moral intelligence questionnaire were used. Analysis was done using SPSS version 19 software and descriptive and analytical statistics, calculation of mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation test, and Independent T-test were performed.

The results showed that the mean score of moral intelligence in the nurses working in ICU was 80.20±7.40 and very good. The highest score was related to the honesty and the lowest score was related to the compassion. The results of the Pearson’s correlation test showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the general score of moral intelligence and the variables of marital status (P=0.03), age (P=0.02), work experience (P=0.02), and work experience in the ICU (P=0.02). There was also a positive and significant relationship between honesty, responsibility, and compassion with the variables of age, marital status, and work experience in the ICU. There was also an inverse relationship between the overtime hours and the dimensions of the moral intelligence questionnaire. There was not a significant relationship between the overall score of moral intelligence with gender and with participation in the ethics seminar. On average, married people had higher responsibility, forgiveness, and moral intelligence than single people.

Considering the particular conditions of the special care units and the necessity of the presence of capable nurses in these units, it is superlative that married nurses with older age, higher work experience, and more work experience work in these units. It is also the responsibility of the managers and planners of the treatment units to reduce the working hours of the nurses working in these units and to carry out a correct assessment of needs before holding in-service training programs to help improve the moral intelligence of these nurses.