Introduction: Dignity is a core value in nursing. Nursing education shall prepare students for ethical professional practice and facilitate insight into the phenomenon of dignity and its significance. There is limited knowledge about how nursing students discover dignity in their education. Research aim: The aim of the study is to develop an understanding of how nursing students discover and acquire dignity. Research design: The study has a hermeneutic approach where qualitative interviews of nursing students were employed. The process of interpretation (...) was inspired by text of Fleming, Gaidys and Robbs. Participants and research context: Nineteen nursing students agreed to be included in the study, representing six different campuses at three different educational institutions. All were in the final year of their study. The interviews took place at the educational institutions. Ethical considerations: The educational institutions facilitated recruitment of the students who signed voluntarily for participation and continuous informed consent. The study was approved by The Norwegian Center of Reporting Data (NSD). The research recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki were followed. Findings: The nursing students discovered the expression and significance of dignity through experiences, gained through introspection and in interaction with others during the education. Discussion: The findings are discussed using Gadamer’s concept of experience and how experiences can create new insight. In particular, the students’ experiences with the inner ethical and external aesthetic dimension of dignity are discussed. Conclusion: The study shows that students discovered the inner ethical dignity through experiencing vulnerability, pride and shame. They discovered the external aesthetic dignity through incidents, where they experienced both to be confirmed and not to be confirmed, and through observation of good or bad role models. Crucial negative and positive experiences are important for discovering the expression and significance of dignity. (shrink)

Background: In the ever-changing and complex healthcare environment, nurses encounter challenging situations that may involve a clash between their personal and professional values resulting in a profound impact on their practice. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of literature on how nurses develop their personal–professional values. Aim: The aim of this study was to understand how nurses develop their foundational values as the base for their value system. Research design: A constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed to collect multiple data sets, (...) including face-to-face focus group and individual interviews, along with anecdote and reflective stories. Participants and research context: Fifty-four nurses working across various nursing settings in Indonesia were recruited to participate. Ethical considerations: Ethics approval was obtained from the Monash University Human Ethics Committee, project approval number 1553. Findings: Foundational values acquisition was achieved through family upbringing, professional nurse education and organisational/institutional values reinforcement. These values are framed through three reference points: religious lens, humanity perspective and professionalism. This framing results in a unique combination of personal–professional values that comprise nurses’ values system. Values are transferred to other nurses either in a formal or informal way as part of one’s professional responsibility and customary social interaction via telling and sharing in person or through social media. Discussion: Values and ethics are inherently interweaved during nursing practice. Ethical and moral values are part of professional training, but other values are often buried in a hidden curriculum, and attained and activated through interactions during nurses’ training. Conclusion: Developing a value system is a complex undertaking that involves basic social processes of attaining, enacting and socialising values. These processes encompass several intertwined entities such as the sources of values, the pool of foundational values, value perspectives and framings, initial value structures, and methods of value transference. (shrink)

Introduction: Dignified care is one of the moral responsibilities of professional caregivers. However, in many cases the dignity of hospitalized patients, especially women in the delivery room, is not maintained. Dignity is an abstract concept and there has been no previous research exploring the dignity of pregnant women in the delivery room in Iran. Objectives: The objective of this study is to define and explain the concept of dignity for pregnant women in the delivery room from the perspectives of professional (...) caregivers. Research design: This is qualitative research. The data were collected through in-depth semi-structured individual interviews. The conventional content analysis method was used to analyze the data. In qualitative content analysis, participant narrative is examined in-depth and sorted into categories and themes. Participants and research context: Potential participants who met the entrance criteria for this study were approached between July 2016 and February 2017. In all, 20 professional caregivers working in the delivery room setting within Iranian general hospitals were invited to participate in the study. The sampling was done through targeted sampling until saturation was achieved. Ethical considerations: The research ethics committee of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences has approved the study’s protocol and all commonly recognized ethical principles were followed throughout the study. Findings: The findings of this study were presented in three main themes, including “privacy,” “respecting patients’ preferences,” and “comprehensive attention” and eight categories. Discussions and conclusion: Women in the delivery room need to be taken care of in an environment where healthcare staff promote the preservation of dignity through maintaining privacy, by providing attentive care and through ensuring that patient preferences regarding care and treatment are respected. In such an environment, the dignity of these women would be maintained and desirable outcomes achieved. (shrink)

Background: Certain factors may facilitate or inhibit the formation of moral sensitivity in nurses performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The identification of these factors in the context can help develop strategies to promote nurses’ moral sensitivity and offer new insights into the consequences of their moral decisions. Objective: Taking into account the possibly multi-factorial nature of moral sensitivity, this study aimed to identify the factors affecting the formation of nurses’ moral sensitivity in CPR settings. Research design and methods: This study performed (...) a conventional qualitative content analysis. Twenty-one participants were selected via purposive and theoretical sampling. The data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and simultaneously analyzed via content analysis. Participants and research context: In total, twenty-one participants (fourteen clinical care nurses, three head nurses, two educational supervisors, and two faculty members) from different cities of Iran were interviewed. Ethical considerations: The research was approved by the Ethics Committee of Urmia University of Medical Sciences in Iran (IR.UMSU.REC.1399.337). Findings: Four categories (underlying factors, professional factors, organizational inhibitors of ethics, and professional limitations) and 13 sub-categories were extracted. Discussion: The formation of moral sensitivity requires a range of ethical standards and their maintenance, not only at the individual level but also at the profession, organization, and community levels. So eliminating inhibitors of ethics in these contexts can improve nurse’s ethical performance in CPR settings. Conclusion: Any measures taken or decisions made by nurses in CPR are driven by numerous ethical issues to which nurses must be morally sensitive. Some factors facilitate and some inhibit the formation of moral sensitivity in nurses. (shrink)

Introduction: Maintaining dignity is one of patients is one of the main ethical responsibilities of caregivers. However, in many cases, the dignity of patients, especially autistic teenagers is not maintained. The extent to which dignity needs are met for this group within the Iranian care system is difficult to determine as dignity is an abstract concept, and there are few related research studies reported. Objectives: The objective of this study is to find out caregivers perspectives on dignity in teenagers with (...) autistic spectrum disorder. Research design: This study uses a qualitative research design. The data were collected through individual, semi-structured interviews and field notes developed during the interviews. In order to analyze the data, qualitative conventional content analysis was used. Participants and research context: In all, 16 professional caregivers for autistic teenagers working in public hospitals were recruited based on a targeted sampling method to reach data saturation from February 2016 to July 2017. Findings: The findings of this study were presented in three main themes, “privacy,” “respecting individual identity,” and “comprehensive support,” and 11 categories. Ethical consideration: This study’s protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of medical universities located in Southeast of Iran and the required ethical principles were followed throughout. Discussion and conclusion: Based on the findings of this study from the perspective of caregivers, autistic teenagers need to be cared for and educated in a respectful environment where their privacy is maintained, their individual identities are respected, and they receive comprehensive familial, social, and financial support. These conditions would maintain the dignity of such teenagers and would result in appropriate behavioral outcomes. Therefore, it is suggested that a cultural, professional and institutional background in which all components of the autistic teenager’s dignity are protected and emphasized be provided. (shrink)

Background: In order to prove their commitment to the nursing profession, nurses need to base their professional activities on certain acknowledged values. Although a large number of studies have addressed professional values in nursing, only a few studies are available on the identification and comparison of nurses’, nursing students’, and nursing instructors’ understanding of such values. Objective: The study aims to compare nurses’, nursing students’, and nursing instructors’ perception of nursing professional values. Research design: In this descriptive-comparative study, data were (...) collected using Weis and Schank’s Nurses’ Professional Values Scale–Revised. The data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software (v 22). Participants and research context: A total of 299 nurses, 341 nursing students, and 100 nursing instructors from multisite, 20 different wards from 3 university hospitals and associated nursing schools located in the cities of Shiraz, Fasa, and Jahrom in Fars province, participated in 2016. Ethical considerations: The Institutional Review Board of the researchers’ primary university has verified that the study complies with research ethics. Findings: The total mean scores of the nurses’, nursing students’, and nursing instructors’ perception were found to be 4.23 (0.44), 3.92 (0.50), and 4.34 (0.35), respectively, in the domain of justice—this domain was the subjects’ top priority—and 3.40 (0.56), 3.29 (0.49), and 3.55 (0.36), respectively, in the domain of activism—this domain was attached the least importance by the subjects. There were significant differences across the three groups’ perception in all of the dimensions of professional values ( p < 0.001). Discussion: The three study groups’ overall mean scores fall within the range of relatively important or important. Several studies show the same results, but there are still controversies in this regard. Conclusion: There is need for plans to increase nurses’ awareness of certain professional duties and improve their professional performance in all areas alongside their care duties. (shrink)

Background and significance of research: Nurses’ awareness of professional values and how those values affect their behaviors is an integral part of nursing care. There is a large body of research on nursing professional values, however, a careful survey of the available literature did not yield any studies investigating the status of professional values in operating rooms. Objective: This study aims to investigate the perception of operating room nurses of university hospitals toward professional values. Research plan: In this cross-sectional study, (...) data were collected using Schank and Weis’s Nurses Professional Values Scale–Revised. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS version 16. Participants and settings: The 513 participants of the study consisted of operating room nurses and nurse anesthetists from six university hospitals. Ethical considerations: This study has been approved by the ethics committee of the university. Findings: The mean total professional values score of the operating room staff was found to be 100.84 ± 15.685, which indicates that the participants had a positive perception toward observance of nursing professional values in practice. The results showed that the participants considered the domains of justice and activism as, respectively, the most and the least important. The operating room staff’s overall professional values scores were not found to correlate significantly with their ages, professional experience, university majors, or attendance at ethics workshops. However, a significant difference was found between the professional values scores of the female and male staff. The professional values scores of the operating room nurses and the nurse anesthetists were not significantly different (p value = 0.494). Conclusion: Operating room staff’s awareness of professional values is essential to providing care to patients based on professional principles. Accordingly, there is need for programs to raise operating room nurses’ awareness of their professional duties and improve their professional performance. (shrink)

Introduction: Maintaining dignity is one of the most important human rights. However, maintaining and promoting the dignity of nursing students as an important caregiver group has scarcely been considered. Dignity can be viewed as an abstract concept particularly in relation to the perspective of male nursing student perspective. Therefore, more investigation is required to explore the male students’ understanding of the concept of dignity. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to define and explain the concept of dignity among male (...) nursing students in the neonatal intensive care unit. Research design: This is a qualitative content analysis study. The data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews. The data were analyzed by conventional content analysis method. Participants and research context: Twenty male nursing students in public health centers in Iran were selected by targeted sampling to achieve data saturation between February 2017 and November 2017. Findings: The findings of this study were presented in three main themes, including “extensive support,” “belief in ability,” and “participation in decision making,” and 7 sub-categories of data were extracted. Ethical considerations: The study’s protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and the ethical principles were followed throughout the study. Discussion and conclusion: According to the findings of the study, male nursing students required extensive support, and their academic and practical skills required to be respected; in addition, they should be involved in decision making, because in such an environment, the dignity of these students will be maintained and promoted. Therefore, it is suggested that a cultural, professional, and institutional background in which all components of the male nursing student’s dignity are protected and emphasized should be provided. (shrink)

Background: Ethics development is one of the most important aspects of professional practice in health sciences students. Understanding factors affecting ethics development can enhance clinical and professional performance in students. Objective: This study was conducted to explore students’ perceptions about factors affecting professional ethics development. Research design: This study is a conventional content analysis. Data were collected through 20 semi-structured interviews and two focus group interviews (12 students) during 2017–2018. Data were analyzed concurrently with data gathering, using the conventional content (...) analysis approach of Graneheim and Lundman. Participants and research context: In total, 8 students of nursing, 5 medical students, 4 students of anesthesia and 3 operating room students in individual interviews, and 12 students in two focus group interviews from one university in the south of Iran were selected through purposive sampling. Ethical considerations: The research was approved by the Ethics Committee of one university in the south of Iran. Findings: The findings revealed two themes: personal and background factors. Personal factors consisted of the two categories of individual motivation and tendencies and interpersonal interactions. Background factors consisted of the two categories of role and function of teachers and environmental agents. Discussion and conclusions: According to the findings, both background and individual factors affect development of professional ethics in students. Understanding these factors along with reinforcement of educational planning in this field can improve healthcare services. (shrink)