Effects of spirituality training on the moral sensitivity of nursing students: A clinical randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Training nurses on spiritual principles and values helps to stimulate moral imagery and a deep understanding of moral problems in them. However, spirituality issue was not included in ethical educational content. There was still no interventional study on the effect of spirituality education on ethical sensitivity. This study was conducted to determine the effect of spirituality training on moral sensitivity of nursing students. A randomized controlled trial design was used. Data were collected by a moral sensitivity questionnaire and analyzed using Chi-square, Fisher, independent and paired t-test in SPSS 13v. This research was performed on 60 nursing students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2018. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups. The intervention group was under the spirituality group training in seven 60 min sessions. The control group was traditionally trained. Baseline characteristics were similar in the two groups. The differences between the two groups were statistically significant in the moral sensitivity score ( p < 0.0001). A significant difference was observed between the mean of moral sensitivity score of the intervention group, before and after the training ( p < 0.001), while no significant change was observed in the control group, before and after the study ( p = 0.93). The spirituality education increased the moral sensitivity of nursing students. That provides a new perspective on the role and effect of spirituality education on the ethical sensitivity of nursing students.

The Effect of Transcultural Nursing Course on Students’ Moral Sensitivity: A Quasi-Experimental Study

“…In this study, while the scores of the intervention group in the scale dimensions of autonomy, beneficence, holistic approach, and practice were significantly higher than those of the control group, there was no statistically significant difference in terms of the conflict and orientation dimensions. This result was similar to that reported by Jalili et al (2020). This result may have been caused by the insufficient clinical experience of the students.…”

“…It was determined that the moral sensitivity levels of the students in the intervention group who received TNC were significantly higher than those of the students in the control group. The results of this study supported the results of previous studies that examined the effects of spirituality education (Ekramifar et al, 2018;Jalili et al, 2020), spiritual care education (Rezaei et al, 2021), biomedical ethics education (Jeong, 2016), and ethical code education (Jasemi et al, 2020) on moral sensitivity among nursing students. TNC develops the ability of students to interpret verbal and non-verbal behaviors of patients from different cultures based on understanding them and intercultural communication.…”

“…Providing training on TN, whose philosophy is human love, whose mission is respect to moral values and cultural differences (Çingöl et al, 2021;Douglass & Pacquiano, 2010), is believed to develop students' moral sensitivity skills that they will need to solve ethical dilemmas they will face in their professional lives. In the literature, there are studies that have examined the impacts of ethical education (Göçmen Baykara et al, 2015;Yeom et al, 2017), spirituality education (Ekramifar et al, 2018;Jalili et al, 2020), spiritual care education (Rezaei et al, 2021), discussion-based ethical education (Ju Kim & Park, 2019), biomedical ethics education (Jeong, 2016), and ethical code education (Jasemi et al, 2020) on the moral sensitivity levels of nursing students. However, the literature review in this study did not reveal any previous study that has examined the impact of TN training on moral sensitivity (Spekking & Jacobs, 2021).…”

Towards a national strategy for the provision of spiritual care during major health disasters: A qualitative study

“…18,33 SC preparation is increasingly incorporated in nursing curricula and professional development preparation. 34,35 However, SC preparedness appears as almost non-existent in MHDs strategy and DRM.…”

Nursing faculty’s point of view regarding noncompliance with ethics in academic environments: a qualitative study

“…The role of faculty in the development of professional and ethical behaviors is significant and undeniable [ 13 ]. In general, faculty members, educators, and trainers are considered role models among students and trainees [ 14 , 15 ].…”