Journal of The Showa University Society
Online ISSN : 2188-529X
Print ISSN : 2187-719X
ISSN-L : 2187-719X
Original
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ETHICAL VIEWS AND FATIGUE IN CLINICAL NURSES
—Comparison of Cumulative Fatigue with Moral Sensitivity and Its Developmental Stage—
Hiroe YONEZAWAKeizo SATOMieko ISHIZUMasaya FUJISHIROSyun MIZUNORitsuko OBUCHIUrara FUKUCHITakuro FURUYASusumu NITTONOTakao HIROWATARIHiroko IWATA
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2013 Volume 73 Issue 3 Pages 203-215

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Abstract

At present, most clinical nurses complain of excessive cumulative fatigue due to an increase in medical and nursing care duties. It may be reasonable to assume that such fatigue alters their ethical viewpoint. To our knowledge there are no reports to date which discuss the relationship between ethical views and fatigue in clinical nurses. We studied this relationship by comparing the cumulative fatigue in clinical nurses with moral sensitivity and its developmental stage. We sent a self-completed questionnaire to clinical nurses working at two general hospitals and obtained effective responses from 607 nurses. The questionnaire included the background of the subjects, the Japanese version of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) for examining moral developmental stage, the Japanese version of the Moral Sensitivity Test (MST) and the Cumulative Fatigue Symptoms Index (CFSI). The subjects were divided into two groups based on the CFSI scores (median: 19 points); the high group had scores of more than 19 points and the low group, 19 points or less. The background, DIT and MST scores were compared between the high and low CFSI groups. The chi-squared test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for the comparison. The mean age in the high group was significantly lower than in the low group. The mean number of years of experience was significantly shorter in the high group than in the low group. The educational background was significantly higher in the low group than in the high group. The position in the low group was significantly higher than in the high group. There were no significant differences in DIT scores between the high and low groups. The mean MST score was significantly higher in the high group than in the low group. From the results obtained, the conclusion seems to be that cumulative fatigue in clinical nurses is not associated with moral developmental stage, but that individuals with higher cumulative fatigue possess higher moral sensitivity.

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© 2013 The Showa University Society
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