The effect of teaching the principles of nursing ethics on the moral turmoil of nurses: a quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Introduction: Ethical turmoil causes noteworthy side-effects not only on nurses but also on patients and health organisations. Consequently, among nurses, the issue of ethical turmoil should be given priority as one of the barriers to achieving the goals of the health care system. Thus, this study was performed to determine the effect of teaching ethical principles on nurses' ethical turmoil. Material and methods: The current study is a quasi-experimental study in which 60 nurses working in one of the hospitals of Zabol city, after random sampling and ensuring that they met the inclusion criteria, were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Data collection tools were a demographic survey questionnaire and a 36-item moral turmoil questionnaire that was completed before and after the intervention. Data were analysed using SPSS software version 21. Results: Based on the independent t-test, before the intervention there was no significant difference between the mean score of moral turmoil in the intervention and control groups, but after the intervention, the mean score of moral turmoil changed from 105.13 +/- 37.61 to 76.47 +/- 40.26 in the intervention group and from 121.20 +/- 38.26 to 123.80 +/- 34.82 in the control group, and there was a significant difference in the mean scores of the 2 groups (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Based on the findings of the current research, the intervention of teaching moral principles can be effective in the moral turmoil of nurses in a sample of Iranian society. These findings, in line with the results of other research, show that the prediction and provision of such educational services in the health care system for nurses is essential and effective.