Changing to Positive Ethics in Hospital Nurses through 'Theatre of Situations'

간호윤리 상황극을 통한 병원간호사의 긍정윤리관 변화

Purpose: This study was done to examine changes towards positive ethics in registered nurses working in hospitals who took part in performing 'theatre of situations' in terms of issues of nursing ethics. Methods: This research was conducted with one-group pretest-posttest design. The sample, 232 registered nurses, voluntarily participated in a contest of 'Theatre of Situations' with themes of nursing ethics hosted by Hospital Nurses Association of Korea on September 8, 2011. For this contest, eight nursing situational scenario regarding ethical issues or dilemma were created. The theatre of situation was performed by volunteer nurses over a period of 160 minutes. Data were collected before and after the performance using 10 items to measure Positive Ethics. Item internal consistency had a Cronbach's alpha in this study of .716. Results: Before the theatre of situations was performed, the mean (${\pm}$standard deviation) level of positive ethics was 2.34 (${\pm}.37$). For the nurses who participated, there was a significant increase in the degree of positive ethics after the theatre of situations ($2.62{\pm}.36$, p<.001). Conclusion: This result implies that indirect experiences such as 'theatre of situations' in terms of ethical issues, created as well as performed, is effective for registered nurses in changing their ethical perspective positively and in realizing ethical ideals.