Examination of the relationship between nurses' moral courage levels and ethical behaviors towards protecting patients' rights

This study was conducted in a descriptive and correlational design in order to examine the relationship between nurses' moral courage levels and ethical behaviors to protect patient rights. The population of the study consisted of nurses who were working in governmental and educational research hospitals affiliated to Trabzon Provincial Health Directorate and Farabi Hospital of Karadeniz Technical University Health Application and Research Center during the data collection; the sample consisted of 297 nurses who met the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate in the study. "Nurse Information Form", "Nurses Moral Courage Scale" and "Nurses' Ethical Behaviours for Protecting Patients' Rights Scale" were used to collect the data. Following the acquisition of institutional permissions and ethics committee approval, the research data were collected between February 2024 and November 2024 through face-to-face interviews with nurses who met the inclusion criteria and consented to participate in the study. Mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage, median, standardized beta coefficient, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskall Wallis H test and path analysis were used in the analysis of the data. The mean score of the Nurses Moral Courage Scale was 78.38±14.6 and the mean score of the Nurses' Ethical Behaviours for Protecting Patients' Rights was 100.32±10.49. The findings of the study indicated the presence of a statistically significant, positive, weak relationship between nurses' moral courage levels and their ethical behaviors towards protecting patients' rights (r=0.317; p<0.001). Furthermore, the study demonstrated that moral courage significantly affects ethical behavior towards protecting patients' rights (p<0.001; R²=0.073). A statistically significant difference was found between the unit where the nurses worked, the factors of choosing nursing willingly and the scales of Nurses' Ethical Behaviours for Protecting Patients' Rights and Nurses Moral Courage (p<0.05). Therefore, it was determined that as nurses' moral courage increased, they tended to exhibit ethical behaviors to protect patient rights. It is recommended that moral courage be taken into consideration in nurses' adoption of ethical behaviors to protect patient rights, and that training be organized to increase nurses' knowledge of ethics, morality, and patient rights.