The Influence of Moral Sensitivity and Critical Thinking Dispositions on Biomedical Ethics Awareness of Nursing Students*

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of moral sensitivity and critical thinking dispositionson the biomedical ethics awareness of nursing students. Data collection was done using aself-report questionnaire answered by 508 nursing students from six universities located in G city and Jprovince. The collected data was analyzed using a t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, andstepwise multiple regression using SPSS 20.0 program. Biomedical ethics awareness had a significantpositive correlation with moral sensitivity (r=.55, p<0.001) and critical thinking dispositions (r=.59,p<0.001). Ethical values, critical thinking dispositions, moral sensitivity, intent to attend biomedical ethicsclass, religion, academic year, and university transfer significantly predicted 60.4% of the biomedicalethics awareness of nursing students. The results of this study suggest that the biomedical ethics awarenessof nursing students may be increased through curricula and teaching strategies that aim to nurturestudents’ moral sensitivity and critical thinking dispositions.