Moral professional personhood: ethical reflections during initial clinical encounters in nursing education.
Moral agency is an important constituent of the nursing role. We explored issues of ethical development in Greek nursing students during clinical practice at the beginning of their studies. Specifically, we aimed to explore students' lived experience of ethics, and their perceptions and understanding of encountered ethical conflicts through phenomenological analysis of written narratives. The process of developing an awareness of personal values through empathizing with patients was identified as the core theme of the students' experience. Six more common themes were identified. Development of the students' moral awareness was conceptualized as a set of stages, commencing with empathizing with patients and nurses, moving on to taking a moral stand and, finally, concluding by becoming aware of their personal values and showing evidence of an emerging professional moral personhood. The notions of empathy, caring and emotion were in evidence throughout the students' experience. Implications for practice and nurse education are discussed.
Lemonidou
Chryssoula
C
University of Athens School of Nursing, 123 Papadiamantopoulou Street, 11527 Athens, Greece. clemonid@cc.uoa.gr
Papathanassoglou
Elizabeth
E
Giannakopoulou
Margarita
M
Patiraki
Elisabeth
E
Papadatou
Danai
D
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000941:ethics; D004645:Empathy; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations / Q000941:ethics; D008297:Male; D035863:Moral Development; D033262:Narration; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology; D028723:Personhood; D028743:Professional Misconduct / Q000941:ethics; D012649:Self Concept; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*