title: An experience of teaching bioethics at secondary schools in Karachi.
abstract: Bioethics is the "critical analysis of emerging moral issues in health". The term was first used to refer to "the moral problems of the life sciences encompassing medicine, biology, environment, population and social sciences". Teaching bioethics is complex and challenging within multi-system educational program as in Pakistan for secondary schools. The objectives are difficult as bioethics teaching require changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes along with strong improvement in moral reasoning. The objectives of the study were to teach bioethics and evaluate comprehension and skills of ethical reasoning in students of secondary school in Karachi. This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in two schools (public and private-sector) of Karachi from January 2007 to December 2009. This was a preliminary study and used simple random sampling to recruit one hundred and ten students. The qualitative analysis of comprehension and skills were evaluated on numeric scales. The study found higher comprehension and skills level in females (66%) compared to male students during class-room sessions.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Trials Unit, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan. mahjabeen.khan@duhs.edu.pk
authors.forename: Mahjabeen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001675:Bioethics / Q000193:education*; D002648:Child; D032882:Comprehension; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*