ETHICAL CONTENT IN BACCALAUREATE NURSING CURRICULA (ETHICS TEACHING, EDUCATION).
Contributors: University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 99
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Health.
Description: The purpose of this study was to describe the extant and desired ethical content in baccalaureate nursing curricula. Research questions were: (a) What is the extant ethical content in baccalaureate nursing curricula, (b) What is the desired ethical content in baccalaureate nursing curricula, and (c) What is the relationship between the extant and desired ethical content in baccalaureate nursing curricula?.

A forced-choice questionnaire was sent to all NLN-accredited baccalaureate nursing programs in the United States and its territories and dependencies (344). Respondents were asked to indicate on a five-degree Likert scale the extent to which 24 topics that have ethical implications for nursing were taught and should be taught in their curriculum. Usable responses were received from 85% of the programs surveyed.

Chi-square tests of independence were calculated to show relationships between demographic variables; geographic region, controlling body of institutions, degrees awarded by the institution, enrollment, and the status of ethics courses. Significant differences (p < .05) were limited to geographic region and schools offering an elective ethics course and between the controlling body of institutions and schools requiring ethics courses.

The Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed-Ranks Test was used to ascertain the relationship between extant and desired ethics content. Significant differences were found between extant and desired categories for all 24 topics in the questionnaire. Findings indicated that all of the 24 topics are appropriate for inclusion in baccalaureate nursing curricula. For 22 of the topics, respondents desired more content about ethical problems and ethical decision making than was currently taught in their curriculum.

Recommendations included further study of geographic variables and their possible influence on schools offering required and elective ethics courses and investigation of relationships between controlling body of institutions and status of required ethics courses. It was also recommended that extant ethical content in baccalaureate nursing curricula be analyzed to determine specifically what is taught, that faculty knowledge of deontological and teleological theory be assessed to determine correlations with low frequency in extant and desired categories, and that study be conducted to determine preparation of faculty responsible for teaching ethics courses.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-08, Section: B, page: 2621.

Thesis (D.S.N.)--UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, 1985.

School code: 0005.