The Correlation Between Nurses' Moral Distress and Attitudes of Ethical Principles: Correlational and Descriptive Study

Objective: Nurses are health professionals who experience the most moral distress during their ethical practices. Experiencing moral distress may negatively affect nurses' professional practices. The current study was conducted to determine whether there is correlation between nurses' moral distress and attitudes of ethical principles. Material and Methods: The sample of this correlational and descriptive study comprised of 100 nurses. The descriptive characteristics form, the Moral Distress Questionnaire (MDQ), and the Scale for Attitudes of Ethical Principles (SAEP) were utilized to collect data. Results: The total mean score of the nurses were 45.62±16.44 on the MDQ, and 68.33±15.26 on the SAEP. There was no statistically significant positive and weak correlation between MDQ and SAEP (r=0.109, p>0.05). Conclusion: The results revealed that the nurses had a moderate level of moral distress and attitudes of ethical principles. Additionally, there was no statistically significant correlation between nurses' moral distress and attitudes of ethical principles. It is recommended that managers, planners and educators should make efforts to ensure that nurses are aware of their moral distress and to increase their professionalism.