The relationship between personal values and care ethics in nursing: descriptive-cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between individuals' personal values and the principles of care ethics. The descriptive-cross-sectional study was carried out between January and August 2019. Data were collected whit the form of socio-demo- graphic characteristics and ethical questions created by the researchers in line with the literature, and a case and value scale with evaluate care ethics. It was also found that 75% of the nurses had taken ethics courses, 53% had faced ethical dilemmas, 38% of those who faced ethical dilem- mas acted in line with their values. Additionally, 54% responded to the question 'how frequently do you put ethical principles into practice?' with 'generally,' while 32% responded that patients, 31% said the hos- pital, and 25% said physicians were factors preventing them from putting ethical principles into practice. When evaluating the hierarchy of values scale, it becomes evident that moral value ranks first, fol- lowed by religious value in the second position, and theoretical value in the seventh position. Additionally, statistically significant correla- tions were observed between the sub-dimensions of the scale and eth- ical principles: aesthetic value and confidentiality (p=0.01), religious value and first/emergency aid (p=0.00), theoretical value and auton- omy (p=0.01), and justice/equality (p=0.02). Furthermore, a statisti- cally significant positive correlation was found between political value and confidentiality (p=0.03). The present study showed that factors re- lated to personal care are among the most important obstacles to ob- serving professional ethics from the perspectives of nurses. As a result of the study, personal values affect care ethics practices.