The Predictors of Moral Sensitivity Among Physicians

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics of the Participants

Variable	Category	N	%	Variable	Category	N	%
Gender	Female	131	51.8	Ethical Committee Membership	Not a member of an ethical committee	236	93.3
	Male	122	48.2		A previous member of an ethical committee	9	3.6
Age	25–30	116	45.8		A current member of an ethical committee	8	3.2
	31–35	38	15	Clinical Rank	Consultant‎	80	31.6
	36–40	46	18.2
	41–45	15	5.9		Registrar‎ and Fellow	58	22.9
	46–50	9	3.6
	51-55	16	6.3		Resident	115	45.5
	>55	13	5.1
Nationality	Saudi	213	84.2
	Non-Saudi	40	15.8
Marital Status	Married	143	56.5	Specialty	Family Medicine, Internal Medicine‎, Pediatrics, Dermatology, Psychiatry	174	68.8
	Not married	110	43.5
Parental Status	No children	133	52.6		Surgery, Obstetrics, Gynecology	46	18.2
	Having children	120	47.4		Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia, Intensive Care Unit, Oncology	25	9.9
Place of Training	Local program	200	79.1
	Abroad	50	19.8		Laboratory medicine, Radiology	8	3.2
	Both	3	1.2
Years of Practice	≤5 years	150	59.3	Participants’ Previous Training in Bioethics	None	6	2.4
	6–15 years	75	29.6		1–2 courses	205	81
	> 15 years	28	11.1		>2 courses	42	16.6

Table 2 The Overall Score and Dimensions of Moral Sensitivity for the Study Participants

Dimensions	Mean	SD	Median	Q1	Q3
Moral sensitivity	90.6	19.6	90	78*	101.5**
Autonomy	19.6	5.1	19	16	22.5
Holistic approach	10.6	4.8	10	8	12
Moral conflict	12.8	4.4	12	10	16
Relational orientation	6.7	4.1	5	4	7.5
Practice	14.4	5.1	14	11	17
Benefit	13.0	4	13	10	16

Notes: *Q1=the first quartile: 25% of participants scored 78 or less. **Q3=the third quartile: 75% of participants scored 101.5 or less.

Table 3 The Overall Score and Dimensions of Moral Sensitivity in Correlation to the Demographic Data of the Study Participants

Variable		Moral Sensitivity	Autonomy	Holistic Approach	Moral Conflict	Relational Orientation	Practice	Benefit
Gender	Female	91.9±18.4	19.9±4.9	10.5±4.3	13.2±4.3	6.6±3.9	14.9±5.1	12.9±3.7
	Male	89.2±20.3	19.3±5.3	10.8±5.1	12.5±4.6	6.8±4.3	13.9±5.1	13.1±4.3
	P-value	0.270	0.339	0.694	0.256	0.755	0.114	0.726
Age	25–30	88.2±19.5	19.7±4.9	10.5±4.1	11.9±4.2	6.9±3.9	13.9±4.7	12.5±3.9
	31–35	93.9±22.6	19.4±5.2	10.8±5.5	12.7±4.1	8.1±5.8	15.1±5.7	14.6±4.4
	36–40	88.8±13.9	18±4.3	9.9±3.8	13.2±4.5	5.7±2.5	14.5±5	13.5±4.3
	41–45	99.9±18.5	20.1±6.7	13.6±7.7	14±2.8	6.5±3.7	17.9±4.9	12.8±3.1
	46–50	81.2±26.7	18.1±6.8	8.8±2.8	12.1±6.5	4.9±1.6	13.2±7.6	11.1±4.1
	51-55	99.1±17.5	22.8±5.3	11±4.4	16.1±4.6	5.9±3.5	14.6±5.8	13.7±2.8
	>55	81.2±26.7	18.1±6.8	8.8±2.8	12.1±6.5	4.9±1.6	13.2±7.6	12.6±4
	P-value	0.049*	0.052	0.160	0.002*	0.145	0.113	0.082
Nationality	Saudi	90.3±19.3	19.6±5.1	10.5±4.3	12.8±4.4	6.7±4	14.3±5.1	13±4
	Non-Saudi	92±19.7	19.3±5.4	11.4±6.7	13.1±4.7	7±4.7	15.1±5.4	13.2±4.1
	P-value	0.626	0.689	0.304	0.752	0.669	0.336	0.839
Marital status	Married	91.2±20.1	19.7±5.3	10.6±5.3	13.2±4.6	6.6±4	14.2±5.3	13.2±3.9
	Not married	89.9±18.4	19.4±4.9	10.6±3.9	12.3±4.2	6.8±4.2	14.6±4.9	12.8±4.1
	P-value	0.589	0.710	0.991	0.116	0.715	0.523	0.402
Parental Status	No children	89.4±18.5	19.4±4.9	10.8±4.2	12.2±4	6.9±4	14.5±4.9	12.8±4
	Having Children	91.9±20.3	19.8±5.3	10.5±5.3	13.6±4.8	6.5±4.2	14.3±5.4	13.3±4
	P-value	0.306	0.536	0.695	0.011*	0.515	0.743	0.255
Place of Training	Local program	90.4±19.7	19.7±5.1	10.5±4.6	12.7±4.3	6.8±4.2	14.3±4.9	13.1±4.1
	Abroad	90.8±18.2	19. ±5.1	11.2±5.3	13.3±5.1	6.3±4	14.5±5.8	12.7±3.6
	Both	100.7±13.4	20.3±5	7.7±0.6	17±2	6.3±1.5	19±7.8	13.3±3.1
	P-value	0.659	0.698	0.357	0.183	0.687	0.291	0.844
Years of Practice	≤5 years	89.2±20.4	19.4±5	10.7±4.8	12.2±4.3	7.2±4.4	14.2±4.8	12.7±4.1
	6–15 years	92.5±16.9	19.3±5	10.5±5	13.4±4.6	6.3±3.7	15±5.7	13.9±3.9
	> 15 years	93±19.3	21.2±5.9	10.8±4.1	15.1±4.2	5.3±2.8	14.1±5	12.5±3.5
	P-value	0.378	0.207	0.964	0.002*	0.043	0.447	0.069
Clinical Ranking	Consultant	92.3±16.9	20±5.2	10.4±4.8	14.1±4.4	5.8±3.2	14.4±5.5	13.2±3.7
	Registrar or Fellow	93.7±22	19±5.4	11.2±5.7	13.7±4.9	7.4±5	15.4±5.4	13.6±4.1
	Resident	87.9±19.4	19.6±4.9	10.5±4.2	11.5±3.9	7±4.1	13.9±4.6	12.7±4.1
	P-value	0.118	0.534	0.599	<0.001*	0.038*	0.182	0.335
Specialty	Family Medicine, Internal Medicine‎, Pediatrics, Dermatology, Psychiatry	89.4±16.5	19.6±4.7	10.3±3.8	12.9±4.3	6.3±3.3	14.1±4.7	12.9±3.9
	Surgery, Obstetrics, Gynecology	92.2±23.9	19.6±5	10.5±4.9	13±5.1	7.5±5.2	15.2±5.7	13.2±4.5
	Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia, ICU, Oncology	98.7±24.5	20.3±7.3	13.1±7.7	13.5±4.2	8.4±6.4	15.5±6.2	13.9±4.5
	Laboratory medicine, radiology	81.6±24.8	16.9±5.9	11.1±8.1	9.9±4.3	5.5±2.6	12.6±5.7	13.1±2.5
	P-value	0.070	0.441	0.055	0.243	0.038*	0.287	0.697
Ethical Committee Membership	Not a member of an ethical committee	90.4±19.6	19.5±5.2	10.6±4.8	12.8±4.5	6.7±4.1	14.4±5.1	13.0±4.1
	A previous member of an ethical committee	102.8±11.7	20.8±4.2	11.6±5.4	16.1±3.4	7.3±5.1	16.4±5.4	13.0±4.1
	A current member of an ethical committee	82.6±11.1	20.4±3.5	10.3±1.8	10.4±2	5.8±2.4	11.8±5	11±2.4
	P-value	0.084	0.691	0.823	0.025*	0.725	0.166	0.028*
Previous Bioethics Training	None	94.3±14.4	21.5±2.3	11.2±3.7	14.7±3.7	6.9±4.4	15.3±4.1	13±4.1
	1–2 courses	93±15.6	19.9±5.1	10.6±5	14.3±4.1	5.9±2.6	15±4.5	13.2±3.6
	> 2 courses	90±20.2	19.5±5.2	10.6±4.8	12.5±4.5	5.5±1.4	14.3±5.3	11.7±2.9
	P-value	0.599	0.583	0.955	0.029*	0.263	0.649	0.676

Notes: *P<0.05 was statistically significant.

Table 4 Correlation Coefficients Between Overall Moral Sensitivity Score and Its Dimensions

Pearson Correlation	Moral Sensitivity	Autonomy	Holistic Approach	Moral Conflict	Relational Orientation	Practice	Benefit
Moral Sensitivity	1	0.68	0.69	0.56	0.55	0.69	0.54
Autonomy		1	0.53	0.18	0.44	0.30	0.22
Holistic Approach			1	0.12	0.63	0.35	0.18
Moral Conflict				1	−0.04	0.42	0.22
Relational Orientation					1	0.21	0.20
Practice						1	0.27
Benefit							1

Table 5 Predictors of the Score of Moral Conflict Dimension Among Participants (n=253)

Predictor	Regression Coefficients	t	P-value
Ethics Committee Membership	0.161	2.655	0.008*
Parental Status	0.053	0.675	0.500
Age	0.155	1.398	0.163
Clinical Rank	0.172	1.863	0.064
Years of Practice	0.001	0.013	0.989
Ethics Education and Courses	0.161	2.370	0.022*

Notes: Summary of model: R= 0.344; R²=0.122; model fit: F=5.518 p < 0.001; statistically significant (Enter method). *Significant predictor.