Factors Related to the Levels of Ethical Development Among Nursing Students with Clinical Experiences

Abstract

This descriptive correlational research aimed to explore the levels of ethical development and investigated factors related to the levels of ethical development among nursing students with clinical experiences. One hundred seventeen of the third and fourth-year nursing students were randomly selected. Research instruments included demographic information sheet and levels of ethical development questionnaire. Psychometric properties were tested by content validity and Conbach’s alpha coefficient, which were .95 and .88, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-Square. The findings revealed that most of nursing students (79.48%) were at the fifth post-conventional level of the third stage (ethical development on the social contract and legal orientation) and percentage of the fourth-year nursing students ,who were at the fifth level of the third stage (90.00 %), demonstrated higher than those of the third-year (68.40%). The year of study and family income per month were significantly correlated to levels of ethical development (p = .015 and p = .018, respectively). The findings of this study suggest the benefit of using guidelines to enhance ethical development in nursing students to prepare them being a professional nurse.