THE RELATIONSHIP OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT STAGES TO ETHICS CONTENT IN NURSING CURRICULA.
Contributors: Peabody College For Teachers Of Vanderbilt University.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 103
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Curriculum and Instruction.
Description: This study examines the relationship between senior nursing students who have had a separate course in ethics and nursing students who have had ethics integrated into the nursing curriculum. The study also explores the relationship of Kohlberg's stages of moral development and the level of moral reasoning to demographic variables of the students' past experiences and values.

Rest's (1979b) Defining Issues Test (DIT) was used to collect data regarding the students' level of moral reasoning and stages of moral development. A demographic survey was used to collect the demographic data for the study. Data of the DIT were analyzed according to the manual provided by Rest (1988) and by the Center for Ethical Development using the SSPS computer statistical package. A comparison of the student groups was analyzed according to the P score using the independent t test. The social characteristics of the students were analyzed by the use of the point-biserial correlation coefficient method.

Findings indicate that both groups of students performed similarly on the DIT. Students with a separate course in ethics scored higher on the DIT at the postconventional level of moral reasoning and students who had ethics integrated performed higher on the conventional level of moral reasoning. The demographic characteristics of age, previous nursing experience, and role in health care tended to indicate a higher P score on the DIT than the other characteristics measured.

The conclusions of these findings indicate that the effectiveness of nursing education in increasing the students' moral reasoning ability may be accomplished through integration of ethics in the curriculum or through a separate course in ethics. In addition, students with previous nursing experience, whose role in nursing was as a direct care giver as a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse, and who are in an older age group tend to have higher level moral reasoning skills. Further research in the area of nursing ethics should be encouraged to assist nursing educators and nursing practitioners to meet the increasing ethical challenges in health care.

References. Rest, J. (1979b). Manual for the defining issues test: An objective test of moral development. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Rest, J. (1988). Manual for the defining issues test. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-04, Section: B, page: 1744.

Thesis (ED.D.)--PEABODY COLLEGE FOR TEACHERS OF VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, 1989.

School code: 0074.