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Moral sensitivity of nurses in a university hospital in southern Brazil
Jéssica Daiane Rosa1, Dulcinéia Ghizoni Schneider2, Laura Cavalcanti de Farias Brehmer2
1Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Hospital Universitário Professor Polydoro Ernani de São Thiago. Florianópolis. Santa Catarina. Brasil.
Objective:
to analyze the moral sensitivity of nurses while facing ethical conflicts at the professional practice and verify their association with sociodemographic and labor-related variables.
Method:
cross-sectional study, carried out with 115 nurses from a university hospital of southern Brazil. The Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire - Brazilian Version was applied from April to May 2023. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyze the data.
Results:
the mean of the nurse's total moral sensitivity score was 3.49 (SD=0.36). The lowest score levels of moral sensitivity were related to the constructs "modified autonomy" (2.48; SD=1.08) and "meaning of the moral structure" (3.46; SD=0.66), while the highest levels were associated with the constructs "respect for patient autonomy" (3.90; SD=0.85) and "experiencing moral conflict" (3.59; SD=1.02). The constructs "modified autonomy" and "meaning of moral structure" were statistically significant regarding the association with the number of employment contracts, work shift and weekly hours worked (p=0.045, p=0.034, and p=0.044, respectively).
Conclusion:
nurses exhibit moderate levels of moral sensitivity, and aspects of work are related to the ability to recognize and act on ethical problems.
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