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Ethical Sensitivity of Nursing Students During a 4-Year Nursing Curriculum in Turkey

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A Correction to this article was published on 08 November 2021

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Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the ethical sensitivity levels of students enrolled in the nursing faculty. The sample of the descriptive study consisted of 594 students who were taught at the Faculty of Nursing in February - May 2018 and agreed to participate in the study. The data were collected by Personal Information Form prepared by researchers to evaluate the demographic characteristics of students and The Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire for Student Nurses. The data obtained from the application were analyzed using SPSS for Windows 23.0 program. The majority of the students (75.9%) participating in the study were women and 74.9% stated that they internalized the profession. The total score average of The Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire for Student Nurses is 4.93 ± 0.49. While the lowest average score in all classes is “Experiencing Ethical Dilemma” sub-dimension, the highest average score is in the “Interpersonal Orientation” sub-dimension. It is the 3rd year student with the highest average score received from the scale. It was determined that the ethical sensitivity of the nursing students was medium and there was a significant difference between the ethical sensitivity levels of the students between the classes. It is thought that ensuring the continuity of the ethical education of the nursing students will be effective in increasing the awareness of the students on the subject. For this reason, it is recommended to integrate ethical issues in all courses in the structuring of nursing education curriculum programs.

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Availability of Data and Material

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all of our students who contributed to the development of ethics education in nursing by accepting to participate in this study and answering our questions within the scope sincerely and carefully.

Funding

No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, Akdeniz University Faculty of Nursing, Antalya, Turkey

    Hilal Gamze Hakbilen & Serpil Ince

  2. Department of Medical History and Ethics, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey

    Mustafa Levent Ozgonul

Authors
  1. Hilal Gamze Hakbilen
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  2. Serpil Ince
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  3. Mustafa Levent Ozgonul
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Hilal Gamze Hakbilen and Serpil Ince. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Hilal Gamze Hakbilen and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Hakbilen, H.G., Ince, S. & Ozgonul, M.L. Ethical Sensitivity of Nursing Students During a 4-Year Nursing Curriculum in Turkey. J Acad Ethics 21, 41–51 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-021-09432-2

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