The Relationship between Moral Distress and Professional Values in Nursing Students

 Nursing students experience moral distress while facing complex moral problems, which has a harmful effect on nursing care. One of the factors which improve nursing performance is adherence to professional values. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between moral distress and professional values in the nursing students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences.

 This descriptive correlational study included 210 nursing students from three nursing faculties of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran. The samples were selected through convenience sampling method. Data collection was done using 3 questionnaires: the demographic questionnaire, Hamric Moral Distress Scale-Revised (MDS-R) and Weis and Shank’s Nurses Professional Values Scale (NPVS). The data were analyzed through the descriptive and inferential statistical tests. SPSS software 25 was used.

Ethical Considerations:

 In this study, the standards regarding moral principles, such as confidentiality, Personal consent and the participants’ freedom to continue or quit cooperation during the study process have been observed.

 Based on the main purpose of the study, Spearman's test did not show a significant relationship between moral distress and professional values (P=0.251, r=0.08).The mean of moral distress in nursing students was (92.61±57.30) and their moral distress was low level. The mean of professional values in nursing students was (79.69±12.09), which was moderate. The students assigned the highest value to the dimension of care and the lowest value to the dimension of pragmatism. There was no significant relationship between moral distress and demographic characteristics and only gender (p=0.005) and place of residence (p=0.028) showed a significant relationship with professional values.

 Although no significant relationship was found between moral distress and professional values in the intern nursing students, the nursing students' attention to the care dimension of professional values reflects the students' attention to the importance of care as the main professional duty of nursing, which can affect their performance.