THE ETHICAL/MORAL LANGUAGE OF CANCER NURSES (MORAL DEVELOPMENT, ETHICS).
Contributors: Claremont Graduate School.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 156
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Ethical situations are a common experience for cancer nurses. Few nurses, however, feel confident using a nursing ethical framework for resolution of these situations. Most research on the moral development of nurses has been based on Kohlberg's justice model, often with unsatisfactory results. Recently Gilligan's care model has been mentioned in the literature as a more appropriate model for nursing. None of this research has dealt with cancer nurses.

The purpose of this dissertation was to systematically study the moral/ethical situations oncology nurses experience as described by the nurses themselves. The research questions were: (1) What words do cancer nurses use to describe the moral/ethical situations they experience in practice? (2) To which moral principles do these words relate? (3) What nursing ethics framework begins to emerge from the descriptions?.

The population for this descriptive study consisted of 150 randomly selected nurses who self identified as cancer nurses through membership in the Oncology Nursing Society. The nurses were asked to: (1) "Describe an oncology clinical situation in which you experienced moral/ethical questions. Share all the thoughts, perceptions, and feelings you can recall until you have no more to say about the situation."; (2) Complete a demographic data instrument; (3) Submit a signed consent form.

Of 83 nurses who responded (55%), 70 (46.6%) completed all forms and submitted a description. The reported experiences were analyzed and categorized for: (1) ethical perspective; (2) moral principles reflected; (3) moral certainty; and (4) moral/ethical theme(s). Validity and reliability were addressed through multiple point agreement on repeated reviews by the researcher and by independent agreement between analyses by the researcher and an outside research reviewer.

The data revealed that this group of cancer nurses used a Care perspective almost exclusively; focused on the moral principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, and truthtelling; shared a variety of moral certainty stands from certainty to distress; and revealed moral themes of suffering, secrets, and struggle alone and in combination. Twenty-five nurses (35%) offered clues for practical situation management. This study suggested a beginning nursing ethics framework which can be used in nursing practice and education, as well as ideas for further research.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: B, page: 1356.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE CLAREMONT GRADUATE SCHOOL, 1991.

School code: 0047.