Review Article - Journal of Intensive and Critical Care Nursing (2020) Volume 3, Issue 2

The effect of motivational interviewing on the moral sensitivity of nurses working in intensive care units.

Background: Moral sensitivity is the ability to identify a moral challenge and is the first step in moral decision-making and professional behavior. Objective: It is therefore necessary to examine the level of moral sensitivity in nursing and find interventions for its promotion. Methods: This two-stage pretest-posttest empirical study was conducted on 70 nurses working in Special Care Units (SCUs). The samples were recruited from SCUs including emergency departments, ICUs and CCUs and the share of each department was determined based on quota sampling. The samples were then randomly and regularly assigned to control and experimental groups based on the inclusion criteria. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and the Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire before, immediately after and one month after the intervention and were then analyzed in SPSS-20 software. Results: The mean score of the nurses' moral sensitivity in SCUs was 84.7 ± 6.51 before the intervention in both groups, which is considered good. The mean score of moral sensitivity did not change immediately after the intervention compared to before, but according to the repeated measures ANOVA, there was a significant difference in the mean score of moral sensitivity in the nurses working at SCUs one month after the intervention compared to before. The moral sensitivity score ultimately increased to 92.62 ± 6.28 in the last follow-up. Conclusion: Motivational interviewing is a practical technique that can enhance nurses’ moral sensitivity by altering their mental insight as a key factor in overcoming the fundamental challenges of the healthcare system.

Author(s): Somayeh Ghafari, Razieh Shahrokhi, Fariba Mosavy, Mehrdad Mohamadi Armandi

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