Program development study to improve ethical sensitivity and ethical decision making skills in nursing students

Introduction: Ethics is a philosophical discipline that examines the values, norms, and challenges in human relationships, focusing on value-based issues. Evaluating actions with ethical sensitivity and making ethical decisions are important factors in enhancing the quality of healthcare. Therefore, structuring ethics education in nursing to enhance students' ethical sensitivity and decision-making skills is crucial. Purpose: The research aims to develop, implement, and evaluate an ethics education program aimed at enhancing ethical sensitivity and decision-making skills in nursing students. Method: A parallel mixed-method design was employed in the research. In the quantitative dimension, a single-group pretest-posttest experimental design was utilized. The research was conducted with second-year students in a nursing department at a university. The sample size of the research was calculated to be 28 individuals to ensure a Type I error rate of 0.05 and a power of 0.80 for Type II error, with data loss considered, and thus worked with 34 students. An analytical approach-based document analysis was conducted for needs analysis in developing the education program. Based on the results of the needs analysis, the education program was prepared, implemented, and evaluated. Quantitative data, including Student Information Form, Adapted Ethical Sensitivity Scale for Nursing Students, Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing Test, and Evaluation Form for the Education Program, were collected before the education, immediately after the education, one month after the education program, and three months after the education program. Qualitative data were collected through student diaries during the implementation process of the education program. The collected data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, median (minimum-maximum), Repeated Measures ANOVA Test, Bonferroni Test, Friedman Test, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test with Bonferroni Correction, and Pearson correlation analysis. The significance level of the research was set at p <0.05. Qualitative data were grouped according to themes and interpreted through descriptive content analysis. Results: It was found that the levels of ethical sensitivity, principled thinking scores in ethical decision-making, and familiarity of students significantly increased immediately after the education, as well as at 1 month and 3 months post-education. The effect of the developed ethics education program was determined to be substantial compared to measurements taken before the education.