Knowledge and positions on bioethical dilemmas in a sample of Spanish nursing students: A questionnaire study

Abstract

This study, performed in Madrid, Spain, evaluates nursing students’ understanding and attitudes about bioethical dilemmas that they will likely confront as health care providers. We asked 86 juniors in the King Juan Carlos University Nursing baccalaureate program about their knowledge of and personal attitudes on five biomedical advances: eugenics, experimentation with unimplanted embryos, human cloning, abortion, and euthanasia. Students reported being most knowledgeable about abortion and euthanasia and least familiar with eugenics. Examining the data for a correlation between the two phenomenon (knowledge and position) with respect to each of these five biomedical issues, the students reported significantly Conversely, they held significantly neutral positions on eugenics, a virtually unfamiliar topic for them (r = 0.618, p < 0.0001). The data also revealed a significantly direct correlation between knowledge and position for experimentation with non-implanted embryos (correlation coefficient = 0.380, p < 0.0001), that is, little knowledge and neutral attitudes. The trend findings for abortion and cloning were not significant. Based on these data, we concluded that the nursing program would benefit from additional biomedical curriculum.

Keywords:

• nursing students
• ethical decision making
• Spain
• bioethics
• background knowledge
• personal attitude