Measuring value sensitivity in medicine.

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Healthcare Management
• Psychological Assessment

Background:

• Value sensitivity is crucial for medical practitioners in ethical decision-making.
• This psychological competence is often overlooked in medical training.
• The study revises the concept of moral sensitivity to value sensitivity in medicine.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate an instrument for measuring value sensitivity in healthcare professionals.
• To assess sensitivity across moral, biomedical ethics, and strategy-related values.

Main Methods:

• A four-step procedure was used: value identification, representation, vignette construction, and instrument validation.
• The study involved 317 participants for identification and representation, 37 for vignette evaluation, and 48 for validation.
• Validation compared nursing professionals and hospital managers.

Main Results:

• Nursing professionals prioritized principle-related values more than hospital managers.
• Hospital managers were more inclined to recognize and prioritize strategy-related issues.
• The results demonstrated the instrument's discriminatory power.

Conclusions:

• The newly developed instrument effectively measures value sensitivity.
• It can be utilized for healthcare professionals, students, and clinical staff.
• The findings highlight differences in value perception between clinical and management roles.