EFFECT OF A BIOMEDICAL ETHICS COURSE ON SENIOR NURSING STUDENTS' LEVEL OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT.
Contributors: West Virginia University.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 108
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Health.
Description: The purpose of this study was to determine if senior nursing students had a significantly higher level of moral development after taking a semester course dealing with biomedical ethical issues. The investigation also sought to determine if there were significant differences between generic students and R.N. students in their level of moral development both before and after taking a course in biomedical ethics.

Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT) was used as a pre and post-test. Seventy-five students were included in the study, twenty-five were R. N. students and fifty were generic students. The biomedical ethics course was taught to small sections of students. The course presented traditional and contemporary ethical theories and used a case discussion method of current issues, and focused on the process of ethical decision making. The dependent variable was development of moral judgment or measured by the DIT. The independent variables were the biomedical ethics course taught and the type of student.

A t test revealed that the R.N. students scored significantly higher on the DIT pretest than the generic students. In paired t test analysis all senior nursing students scored significantly higher on the post-test than on the pretest. Each of the subgroups, the R.N. students and the generic students also scored significantly higher on the post-test than on the pretest.

The conclusion was that senior nursing students who had a biomedical ethics course showed a significant raise in their level of moral development as a result of this course. Recommendations included the need to develop biomedical courses for inclusion in nursing curricula, the need for faculty to become prepared in this area, and the need for inservice clinical educators to develop programs to help staff nurses develop ethical decision making processes.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-10, Section: B, page: 3205.

Thesis (ED.D.)--WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY, 1984.

School code: 0256.