Strengthening Perceptions of Ethical Competence Among Nursing Students and Graduates

Abstract

Introduction: Ethical competence is part of all health-care professionals’ general competence. It relates to moral issues and is based on the professionals’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes for coping with ethical dilemmas. Ethics education aims to increase nursing students’ and nursing graduates’ ethical self-confidence. Previous research has found many gaps in ethical education content and poor understanding of how these gaps affect graduates. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate an advanced education workshop held in the nursing department in Max Stern Yezreel Valley College aimed at strengthening the self-perceptions of ethical competence, to address the above gap, by raising students’ self-efficacy when coping with ethical dilemmas. Methods: The effectiveness of the workshop for nursing students was evaluated using the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale and at three points in time: before the workshop, after the workshop, and after graduation. Results: Statistically significant differences were found in overall self-efficacy: before the workshop (mean of 2.42), after the workshop (mean of 2.13), and for graduates (mean of 1.58) with p