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. 2025 Mar 13;18(1):111.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-025-07174-7.

Predicting the effect of ethical climate and spiritual well-being of nurses on respecting the patients' privacy in intensive care units: an analytical study

Roya Dokoohaki  1 , Elham Afshari  2 , Masoume Rambod  3 , Mahdi Salmanpour  4
Affiliations

Predicting the effect of ethical climate and spiritual well-being of nurses on respecting the patients' privacy in intensive care units: an analytical study

Roya Dokoohaki et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Ethical climate, observance of patients' privacy and nurses' spiritual well-being are of great importance in intensive care units (ICU). In addition, it is essential to identify spiritual and ethical predictors of patients' privacy. Thus, this study aimed to determine the predictive effects of ethical climate and nurses' spiritual well-being on patients' privacy in ICU.

Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional study, 250 out of 500 ICU nurses were recruited using proportionate allocation stratified sampling. Data were collected using a demographic characteristics form, Patient Privacy Scale, Hospital Ethical Climate Survey, and Spiritual Well-Being Scale. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and hierarchical linear regression analysis.

Results: The results showed that patients' privacy was associated with the hospital's ethical climate and nurses' spiritual well-being (P < 0.001). The hierarchical linear regression analysis indicated that, in step 1, patients (β = 0.22, P = 0.03) and managers' (β = 0.41, P < 0.001) subscales of ethical climate had a significant proportion of the variance of patients' privacy. In step 2, patients (β = 0.25, P = 0.01), managers' (β = 0.34, P < 0.001) subscales of ethical climate, and nurses' spiritual well-being (β = 0.17, P = 0.01) had a significant proportion of the variance of patients' privacy. According to step 2, these variables explained 40% of the changes in patients' privacy.

Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the ethical climate and nurses' spiritual well-being were the predictors of patients' privacy. Given that 40% of the variance of the patients' privacy was recognized by these variables, it is suggested that further research should be conducted to determine other predictors.

Keywords: Critical care nursing; Ethics; Privacy; Spirituality.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The Research Ethics Committees of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Management and Medical Information Science at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences approved this study (IR.SUMS.NUMIMG.REC.1401.043). All methods were carried out following relevant guidelines and regulations. The nurses signed the written consent form. In other words, written informed consent was obtained from all subjects in this study. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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