Relationships between ethical decision-making and professional behavior in Iranian nursing students

Fatemeh  Molaei Tavani; Mozhgan  Behshid; Azad  Rahmani; Saeid  Mousavi; Mehran  Seif-Farshad; Parvin  Rahmani

doi:10.18502/jmehm.v15i4.10190

Fatemeh Molaei Tavani Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
Mozhgan Behshid Assistant Professor, Medical Education Research Center, Health Management and Safety Promotion Research Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Azad Rahmani Assistant Professor, Medical Surgical Department, Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Saeid Mousavi Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Mehran Seif-Farshad Assistant Professor, Medical Education Research Center, Health Management and Safety Promotion Research Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Parvin Rahmani Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jmehm.v15i4.10190

Keywords: Professionalism; Decision-making; Students; Nursing; Professional practice.

Abstract

Ethical decision-making and professional behavior are essential skills in nursing profession, hence educational programs should be designed to enable future nurses to tackle problems related to ethical decision-making.

This descriptive, correlational and analytical study aimed at determining the ability of Iranian nursing students to make ethical decisions as well as relationship between such decisions and professional behavior.

The present study used census to select 140 freshmen from the School of Nursing and Midwifery of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire, the Nursing Dilemma Test (NDT) comprising two indices of “nurse’s principled thinking” and “practical consideration”, as well as the Nursing Students Professional Behaviors Scale (NSPBS).

The mean scores obtained were 41.3±5.7 for “nurse’s principled thinking”, 21.3±3.7 for “practical consideration”, and 119.07±11.79 for professional behavior. Relationships of professional behavior with “nurse’s principled thinking” and “practical consideration” were insignificant (P>0.05).

According to the present study’s findings, nursing students’ weakness in applying ethical concepts to decisions and professional behaviors was due to a gap between scientific material learned and clinical practice. Hence, novel training strategies and programs should be designed to reduce such theory-practice gap.