Factors Influencing Ethical Behavior Among Chinese Undergraduate Nursing Students

Learning how to effectively respond to ethical dilemma can affect nurses' physical and mental health, which is not conducive to developing a nursing career. Nursing students' ethical behavior warrants attention as professionals about to begin clinical work. We aim to understand the current situation and influencing factors of Chinese nursing students' ethical behavior. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data. Full-time nursing students were recruited from an undergraduate medical university in Jinan through convenient sampling from November to December 2021. Research ethics approval (No. 2022-0018) was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Informed consent was also received from participants. The EBT scores of the nursing students were 95.14 +/- 11.37, which was not high compared with the total score. Gender, year level, and professional values had a significant impact on participants' ethical behavior. A positive correlation was found between nursing professional values and ethical behavior. A gap still exists between the moral development and maturity of undergraduate nursing students. To further cultivate their ethical behavior and improve their confidence and ability to respond to ethical dilemmas, more innovative methods must be employed in teaching ethics courses, and continuity in the ethics education system must be maintained. For male and third- and fourth-year nursing students who showed lower ethical behavior scores, nursing educators can develop their ethical behaviors by helping them establish positive professional values. Ethical behavior refers to the actions taken by individuals when they encounter ethical dilemmas, which can either benefit or harm others and society. The occurrence of clinical ethical dilemmas is unavoidable, which often causes pressure to nurses and threatens the physical and mental health of nurses. Nursing students are valuable assets to the nursing profession, and their demonstration of positive ethical behavior can significantly boost their confidence and competence in resolving ethical dilemmas, which is conducive to the development of nursing work and career. This study aimed to investigate the current situation and influencing factors of nursing students' ethical behavior in China. A total of 921 nursing students from a medical college in Shandong Province were surveyed using the Chinese version of the Ethical Behavior Test (EBT) and Revised Nursing Professional Values Scale (NPVS-R). The results of this study showed that ethical behavior of Chinese nursing students was relatively immature. Female nursing students, first- and second-year nursing students and nursing students who agree with the nursing professional view have more mature ethical behavior and they can deal with ethical dilemmas more effectively. We should focus on those students who have difficulties in adopting positive ethical behavior to solve ethical dilemmas and find powerful measures to improve the current situation of ethical behavior. This study is limited by a single sample source and limited exploration variables. Future research should expand the sample sources at more universities, explore other influencing factors, and take intervention measures to improve the moral behavior of nursing students.