Effect of Educational Intervention on Psychiatric Nurses’ Knowledge Regarding Ethical and Legal Issues for Psychiatric Patients

Abstract

Background: Nurses' knowledge of legal and ethical aspects of healthcare is essential for all nursing professionals because nurses are expected to be professionally competent, providing high-quality care in an ethical manner.Aim: To assess the effectsof an educational interventionon psychiatric nurses' knowledge regarding legal and ethical issues associated with psychiatric patient treatment. Design:A quasi-experimental, single-group, pre-test-post-test design was used. Setting:Al-Abbasia Mental Health Hospital in Cairo, Egypt.Sample: A convenience sample of 50 psychiatric nurses was recruited.Methods:Structured,selfadministered knowledge questionnaire developed by the researchers was used to assess psychiatric nurses' knowledge levels regarding legal and ethical responsibilities.Results: Nurses' satisfactory knowledge before the intervention ranged between 4% for legal aspects to 62% for violence and neglect. All areas of knowledge significantly improved after the intervention, with satisfactory knowledge ranging between 76% for definitions to 98% for neglect and unprofessional practices. Overall, only one (2%) nurse had satisfactory total knowledge before the intervention, which increased to 90% after the intervention (p<0.001). Nurses' knowledge before the intervention was significantly and positively correlated with their qualifications. After the intervention, knowledge correlated negatively with their age and years of experience.Conclusion:The educational intervention was effective for improving psychiatric nurses' knowledge of the legal and ethical issues associated with their practice. Recommendations: This educational intervention is recommended for inclusion in the orientation program for the hospital,and in-service education programs should be conducted for nursing staff working in similar settings.

Nurses' awareness regarding ethical and legal issues in critical care units

“…Concerning gender of the studied nurses, the present study showed that more than half were females, from the investigator's point of view, this might be due to the fact that most of the graduates of the nursing profession are females despite the difference in society's view of the profession and the entry of males into the field of nursing work, but the number of workers in the profession remains females more than males. This result is congruent with study by Hussien & Hassona, (2021) [10] entitled "Effect of educational intervention on psychiatric nurses' knowledge regarding ethical and legal issues for psychiatric patients" which showed that more than half of the studied nurses were females. Related to beneficence, the present study showed that the majority of the studied nurses had correct answer regarding known any information about ethics, this result is in disagreement with Ali, et al, (2018) [3] who conducted study about " Professional ethics practiced by nurses working in hemodialysis unit at Zagazig hospitals" and illustrated that three fifth of the studied nurses had low level of knowledge about ethics.…”