A Longitudinal Study on Moral Judgment Development in Nursing and Medical Students

Abstract

Purpose: In this longitudinal study, we examined the moral judgment level and its related factors, such as individual characteristics. The result of this study will provide baseline data to establish policy of ethics education for college students and healthcare professionals. Method: We enrolled 37 nursing students and 20 medical students as the subjects in a university in Suwon, Korea. We conducted a questionnaire on the subjects using Korean version of Defining Issues Test(DIT) to analyze the subjects´ moral judgment level. Collected data was coded using ASCII document and scored using Fortran program for computer. Then the data was statistically analyzed by SPSS Version 10.0. Result: Nursing students´ moral development score at each stage were consistently higher at stage 5A across 4-years rather than other stages. On the other hand, medical students´ moral development score were consistently higher at stage 4 than other stages. There was no significant difference in the change P(%) score at each academic year in both groups. In the perspective of the subjects´ general characteristics, P(%) score showed no significant in both groups. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, further studies will examine the correlation between curriculum and moral judgment development in detail. Moreover, we suggest that the current ethics education should be developed and evaluated in more realistic manner.