Components related to ethical decision making in medical science students: A structural equation model

Abstract

Background: Evaluating moral principles in the Society of Medical Sciences and health care workers (HCWs) is imperative due to their direct contact with the community and the significant impact of their attitudes and decisions on people's lives. This study aimed to determine the components related to ethical decisions in medical sciences students.

Methods: One thousand two hundred thirty-five eligible students in the Alborz University of Medical Sciences participated in this descriptive study. We gathered their socio-demographic information, assessed their moral reasoning, and used the ethical decisions questionnaire, Lutsen moral sensitivity questionnaire, and general health questionnaire (GHQ) for data gathering. The data were analyzed with SPSS software version 25 and LISREL version 8.8.

Results: According to the path analysis test findings, ethical reasoning significantly correlated with ethical decision-making (B = 0.40). The number of clinical courses passed, moral sensation (moral sensitivity), and the total number of passed academic semesters had the greatest positive and negative association with ethical decision-making, respectively. (B = 0.54), (B = 0.524) and (B = -0.11).

Conclusion: Based on the findings of the moral reasoning test, the moral sensation was associated with ethical decision-making, which indicates the necessity of attending to ethical aspects, promoting moral reasoning, sensitivity, and students' accuracy.

Fig 1. Path diagram for the association of socio-demographic parameters, moral sensation and moral reasoning with ethical decision making in the students.

MR = moral reasoning, MD = moral decision, MS = moral sensitive, TERM = total number of passed semesters, TERMB = number of passed semesters in hospital, EDU = education, GHQ = general Health Questionnaire.