In this study, which was conducted to investigate the inclination to ethical values, and the academic ethics values of postgraduate students in the health sciences, revealed that the students’ inclination to ethical values and academic ethics values was considerably high. Considering that health sciences graduate programs train scientists who will be a pioneer in many social studies, health care decisions, consultancy, research and practice, it is very important that these individuals have high inclination to ethical values and high sensitivity to academic ethics values. From this perspective, it is important to know that the results of the study indicate that the ethical values emphasized by the European Qualification Framework and the Turkish Higher Education Qualification Framework have been internalized by postgraduate students in the health sciences. Our results are parallel to those reported by other academics in the health field in the limited number of studies on this subject in the literature.15,22,23,24 Uğurlu and Sert (2020) have asserted in a study conducted to determine the academic ethics values of postgraduate students that their attitudes toward the academic ethics values is at a moderate level.25 It is believed that the difference between the present study and the mentioned research stems from the fact that the sample group in the former study encompasses postgraduate students in all fields.
Studies carried out in the world and in Turkey have demonstrated that postgraduate students generally do not comply with the rules of ethics in their theses and other research work.26,27,27,29,30 To expect a progress in science, however, it is imperative to ensure that graduate students, researchers and faculty adhere to ethical values.31 Some studies have indicated that differences in education have an influence on the development of professional values. 9,10,11 In this study, it was observed that the higher the academic level, the higher was the inclination to ethical values of students and the greater was their sensitivity in the context of the academic ethics values. In particular, it was seen that students in the process of their doctoral thesis displayed a higher inclination to ethical values, especially toward values regarding justice and honesty, than the participants in the study who were in the Master’s Degree program or process of Master’s Degree Thesis. It was found that the higher the level of the health sciences postgraduate students’ education, the higher was their sensitivity toward academic ethics values, especially in values for scientific research, values for society and values for the teaching process. It was also seen that these values were higher in the participants who were in the process of their doctoral thesis program than in those who were in the Master’s Degree course program, working on their process of Master’s Thesis or in their Doctoral Degree course program.
As can be noted, the doctoral degree program was the period in which ethical values stood at their highest level and it was seen in particular that the doctoral thesis process was the time that was considerably effective in the acquisition of these values. Doctoral programs carry great importance both on a national and an international scale.32 As specified in the European Qualification Framework (EQF), among the learning outcomes expected from students in a doctoral program is to be able to contribute to resolving social, scientific, cultural and ethical issues encountered in the individual’s field and support the improvements to be made in this context.31 In particular, the learning outcomes of bringing innovation to the field, developing a new idea, method, design and/or practice or adapting a known thought, method, design and/or practice to a new area of knowledge and contributing to the field by independently producing a pertinent original work are all supported by the Ph.D. process, which is where the knowledge and experience gained in all the other academic stages are actively used in the light of ethical values. The results of the present study indicate that in the health sciences field, students studying for their postgraduate education predominantly possess these skills. Denat et al. (2019) showed in their study concerning academic ethics values among academics that as the level of education rose, so too did the level of academic ethical values, and the group that particularly appeared to be most sensitive to this matter were professors, followed by assistant professors and associate professors.15 Aydın et al. (2012) showed in their study that ethical responsibilities in 14 professions were mostly borne by professors.23 As can be seen from both studies, the academic group that has internalized academic ethics values the most constitutes professors. The findings of the study reveal that the tendency and sensitivity to upholding ethical values grows as academic knowledge and experience increases. These results are consistent with the outcome of our own study.
It was seen in our study that the inclination to ethical values and sensitivity toward academic ethics values among the participants in the nursing department were at a higher level that in the participants in all of the other health sciences departments. It was found that the inclination to ethical values (justice-honesty, love-respect, cooperation) of the participants in the nursing department and their sensitivity toward academic ethics values and values for scientific research were at a higher level that participants in the Nutrition and Dietetics division; their sensitivity toward academic ethics values and values for the institution were higher than among the participants in the other divisions, and their inclination in particular to the ethical values encompassing cooperation was higher than in those participants who were studying for their postgraduate education in Medicine. The inclination to ethical values for cooperation of the participants in the Midwifery department was at a higher level than among those studying in the Nutrition and Dietetics and other departments. It was found that the sensitivity of the participants in the Nutrition and Dietetics Department particularly toward values for the institution was at a higher level than in those in other departments.
When the mean scores of inclination to academic values of the students studying for their Master’s Degree in Health Sciences were examined according to their division, it was found that the first three highest scores belonged to the students in the Nursing, Medicine and Midwifery departments; in terms of the AEVS, the highest mean scores were in Nursing, Midwifery and Medicine. The professions in health science provide a unique service.33 The fields of nursing, medicine and midwifery deal with the protection and improvement of human health under conditions rife with uncertainty, difficulty and high risk, and by their very nature present a definitive need for an ethical perspective. Because of this it is imperative that healthcare professionals become more familiar with ethical principles so that they may be able to make ethical decisions.34 The results of this study demonstrate that individuals in postgraduate programs in Nursing, Midwifery and Medicine have a higher inclination to ethical values and a greater sensitivity toward the academic ethics values. It was seen that the inclination to ethical values and the sensitivity toward academic ethics values was especially high in the nursing department. It is reported in a systematic review that the level of education has an effect on nurses’ professional values and that students who have studied for a undergraduate education degree and beyond display a higher awareness of ethical values. The review pointed to the fact that nurses with higher education provided a higher quality of care and relied more predominantly on adopting professional ethics values.14 Other studies have supported the results of this research. Nurses come face-to-face with ethical dilemmas in their professional practices and they carry the responsibility of creating ways to resolve issues under the guidance of universal principles of ethics.35 In the light of the responsibility that nurses carry, ethics principles are treated at each stage of nursing education, discussions about ethics are held in each nursing course and particularly during doctoral coursework and, although content and class hours may change depending upon the school, students take classes that provide instruction on the ethics of academic research and publishing.36,37 The results of this study demonstrate that this approach to nurses’ training make a visible difference in postgraduate school nursing education in comparison to other university departments.
Ethical values and academic ethics values are two fundamental concepts that complement each other. The concept of “value” is a priority of academic ethics values. Values can be considered from a national perspective but can also be universal. The discipline that studies the moral values of conduct is ethics.38 Ethical principles shape the behavior of individuals in all areas of learning and the academic ethics values formalize the conduct of individuals working in science.39 No other study has been encountered in the literature that has explored the relationship of these two concepts. In this study, we found a positive and moderate significant relationship between postgraduate students in the health field in terms of their inclination to ethical values and their sensitivity toward the academic ethics values. The result of this study, which supports the literature information, is an important finding showing that as the ethical sensitivity of learners increase, their sensitivity to academic ethics values increases.
Strengths and limitations of the study
These findings cannot be generalized to all postgraduate students studying in the field of health sciences in Turkey. The study was conducted in only one university in Turkey and there was either low (2%) or no participation from some of the health sciences departments. Furthermore, the data collected on the postgraduate students’ inclination to ethical values in the health sciences departments and their sensitivity toward academic ethics values was limited to what could be derived from the items on the scale. For this reason, the results are based on individual self-reporting.