Purpose: This study was conducted to develop and evaluate a research ethics course in a graduatelevel educational program in nursing.
Methods: This study consisted of three major parts. First, an initial course was developed based on a review of the existing literature regarding research protocols and the ethical issues involved in research.
Second, this initial course was delivered to the graduate students in one nursing program and a quasiexperimental study was applied to evaluate the course. Third, based on an analysis of quantitative responses from the participating nursing students, as well as input from a panel of experts, a final research ethics course was developed for this graduate program in nursing.
Results: The initial course involved the following six content areas: the concept of research ethics,bioethics and research ethics, research ethics for the protection of human subjects, statistical analyses in research ethics, ethical issues in publishing and intellectual property, and research ethics in nursing. The quantitative research reports showed a significant increase in the nursing students’ perception, self-efficacy, and knowledge regarding research ethics. Further analyses show that graduate nursing students still need structured course work in order to increase their ability to carry out good research. Additionally, a course in research ethics in nursing was designed as a 1-credit, pass/fail official course consisting of the following five content areas: the concept of research ethics, the protection of human subjects in nursing, data management and research ethics, statistical management and research ethics, and publication and research ethics.
Conclusion: This study was carried out to develop and evaluate a course in research ethics for a graduate-level educational program for nursing students.