Ethical sensitivity and moral self-concept of nursing students in the internship period and related factors

Ethical sensitivity prevents moral dilemmas; moral self-concept develops via adaptation to others’ expectations. Nursing education provides an opportunity to internalize ethical sensitivity and improve moral self-concept so sensitivity and moral self-concept in nursing students and related factors assessed.

In a quasi-experimental study,all senior nursing students were selected. The inclusion criteria included senior Bachelor's degree students, desire to participate. Lutzen's ethical sensitivity questionnaire, Lutzen's moral self-concept were used.Data analyzed by SPSS software, descriptive statistical tests(percentage, mean ± SD), Paired t-test and Analysis of Variance.

The results showed the majority of the participants(74.4%)were women,(76.9%) single,(48.7%)23 years old, and(76.9%) participated in the ethics workshops.The mean score of students' ethical sensitivity before the internship was at an average level (61.5%) and after that was improved to a higher level(76.4%). There is a significant difference between the mean score of ethical sensitivity before and after the internship. While this difference was not significant for the mean score of moral self-concept. The difference between study concepts with gender and marital status and age weren’t significant, while with workshop participation was significant(p<0.02).

Ethical sensitivity is influenced by participating in ethics workshops so continuous training can be effective to improve it.