Personal Values in Everyday Prosocial Situations Among Healthcare Students: A Qualitative Content Analysis

This study explores how undergraduate health care students in Taiwan observe others' needs and what factors influence their prosocial behavior in the context of priority seating. Using a qualitative descriptive design with thematic content analysis, structured open-ended questionnaires were distributed to 146 students from 3 health-related departments at a college in Taiwan. Thematic content analysis was conducted based on a pre-defined coding framework. Participants' reasoning reflected both normative categories (eg, older adults, pregnant women) and situational judgments based on observed needs (eg, signs of fatigue or injury). Voluntary seat-offering was the most common behavior and was strongly associated with internalized personal values. Decisions were also shaped by the perceived demeanor of the person in need. Visual cross-theme analyses highlighted how these factors interacted in cases involving older adults and people with mobility impairments. Health care students' decisions to offer their seat were influenced by a mix of internal moral orientations, interpersonal cues, and context sensitivity. While cultural norms may inform reasoning, students actively negotiated social expectations with personal judgment. These findings suggest a need for further educational attention to everyday moral decision-making in the development of professional identity.