TESTING AN ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING MODEL FOR NURSES.
Contributors: University of Pittsburgh.
Published: 1983
Number of pages: 205
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This study focuses upon ethical decision-making by nurses. The investigator developed an ethical decision-making model intended to enable nurses to arrive at ethical decisions. The study analyzes the effectiveness of this model. The research design was a before and after study using an experimental and control group.

The first analysis of data revolved around the variable of consistency of ethical decision-making. (Consistency is shown when the members of the group, distributively, make the same decisions). Only three questions out of the thirty revealed a statistical level of significance using a chi-square test.

The next part of the analysis revolved around the variable of patient's right to safety and self-determination. While the experimental group showed a greater change from the pre-test to the post-test the t test was not significant.

Various factors may account for the lack of statistical significance: The teaching time may have been insufficient; on the post-test the control and experimental groups moved in the same direction--indicating that they may have discussed the model; ten nurses in the original control group did not return to take the post-test which may have left those with a specific interest in ethical decision-making in the post-test control group.

The questionnaire did not ask the respondents what would be the ethical thing to do but what they actually would do and thus could not clearly discover whether the model helped them clarify their thinking on this.

Nurses must act within legal and "political" (institutional) policies, consequently, they must often act against what they believe to be ethical. Many answers to open-ended questions on the post-test revealed the respondents felt that they wanted to do one thing but must do something else.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-02, Section: B, page: 0513.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, 1983.

School code: 0178.