2010 Volume 2 Issue 1 Pages 6-14
The purpose of this study was to clarify ethical problems and value conflicts experienced by nurses working in psychiatric wards in Japan and to elucidate the factors influencing these problems. Focus group interviews and individual interviews were conducted with 28 nurses with at least 3 years of clinical experience in psychiatric wards. Content analysis was performed for each episode recounted during the interviews. An analysis of 68 pertinent episodes yielded eight categories of ethical problems, including “patients’rights,” “medical treatment” and “discharge and long-term hospitalization.” The values experienced by the subjects consisted of seven categories; “patients’ rights,” “patients’ dignity,” “patients’ well-being,” “professional values,” “personal values,” “cultural values” and “rights of other persons.” Value conflicts were found between these different values. In addition, “actual constraints,” which were not value factors, conflicted with nurses’ values.
