The relationship between nurses' moral courage and whistleblowing approaches

Abstract

Background: Whistleblowing is an action that particularly requires moral courage. Understanding the relationship between nurses' levels of moral courage and their whistleblowing approaches is important for reducing adverse situations in healthcare services.

Objectives: This study aims to understand and analyze the relationship between nurses' levels of moral courage and their whistleblowing approaches.

Research design: This is a descriptive and correlational study.

Methods: The study sample consists of 582 nurses actively working in a province in northwest Türkiye. Research data were collected using an Information Form, the Nurses' Moral Courage Scale, and the Whistleblowing Scale.

Ethical considerations: Ethical approval from the ethics committee, institutional permission, and informed consent from the participants were obtained for data collection.

Findings: Nurses were found to perceive their moral courage as high, and their whistleblowing levels were at a moderate level. There was a significant and moderate relationship between participants' levels of moral courage and whistleblowing levels (p < .05).

Conclusions: The findings emphasize the importance of promoting moral courage and creating an appropriate environment for exposing ethical violations. This study can contribute to the development of strategies to enhance nurses' moral courage and foster a more ethical working environment in healthcare services.

Keywords: Moral courage; nurse; nursing ethics; whistleblowing.