ETHICAL PRACTICE BEHAVIORS OF UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS IN BANGKOK, THAILAND.

Muntanavadee  Maytapattana; Jay Cammer Caballes  Nayuma; Kanjana  Siricharoenwong; Sumala  Sawangjit; Napissara  Dhiranathara

Muntanavadee Maytapattana College of Nursing and Health, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Jay Cammer Caballes Nayuma College of Nursing and Health, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Kanjana Siricharoenwong College of Nursing and Health, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Sumala Sawangjit College of Nursing and Health, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Napissara Dhiranathara College of Nursing and Health, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Keywords: Ethical practice behaviors, Undergraduate nursing students, Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

This survey research aims to study the ethical practice behaviors of undergraduate nursing students in Bangkok, Thailand. The Tree Moral Theory was used to be a framework of this study. Samples were 400 nursing students from the four colleges and faculties of nursing in Bangkok by mean of simple random sampling. Data were collected by using 2 questionnaires compose of a demographic characteristic and an ethical practice behavior questionnaires. The ethical practice behavior questionnaire was tested for a content validity by three experts as well as an internal consistency reliability tested by Cronbach’s alpha was .800. Descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, standard deviations, and ranges were applied to interpret the demographic characteristics and the Ethical practice behaviors of undergraduate nursing students in Bangkok. The findings showed that the majority of students were female (n = 363) and more than 50 percent of them were 22 year old (n = 207). Eighty three percent of them got the PGA in the 3.01 – 3.50 range (n = 332). The majority of the students lived in a rural area (n = 263). Total mean score of the ethical practice behavior of nursing students was 104.84 (S.D. = 7.95). The majority of the 4th year undergraduate nursing students replied always and often in all questions of positive ethical practice behaviors; in addition, the majority of them answered never and seldom in all questions of negative ethical practice behaviors. Recommendation for the future research are further on study the ethical practice behaviors of the other group such as should be study with young staff nurses and old age staff nurses to confirm the results.