Adapting and Validating a Moral Identity Scale for Korean Intensive Care Unit Nurses

This study aimed to adapt and validate a Korean version of the Moral Identity Scale developed by Aquino and Reed. Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses face several moral conflict or challenging situations where they make difficult decisions related to the rationing of care or prioritization such as a shortage of medical supplies and staffing. To understand the reason behind choosing moral values over other values such as economic and personal ones by nurses during such times, conceptual research on moral identity is required. However, this has not been studied using empirical data analysis despite the increased significance of nurses’ moral identity. A secondary data analysis and a methodological design were employed. Data were collected from 207 ICU nurses. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the construct validity. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the Eigenvalues ranged from 1.63 to 4.47 and comprised 52.17% of the total explained variance. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable model fit indices (χ 2 [ p ] = 28.822 [.051], df = 18, root mean square error of approximation = 0.076, goodness-of-fit index = 0.937, Tucker–Lewis index = 0.93, and comparative fit index = 0.955) and standardized factor loadings (0.45–0.82). As professionals, ICU nurses must protect and advocate for the patient according to their own moral identity. Therefore, the Korean version of the Moral Identity Scale is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used in nursing education programs for improving the moral identity of ICU nurses.