Abstract
The pharmacy profession, as is the case with much of health carein the United States, is undergoing a paradigm change from a profession that hashistorically emphasized the dispensing of prescriptions to one that is more patient-focused. As a result, opportunities for encountering ethical dilemmas may increase. The presentinvestigation explored the relationship between 59 second year pharmacy students' moraldevelopment and their perceptions regarding the difficulty of resolving ethicalproblems commonly found in pharmacy practice. Based on theory it was hypothesized thatthose students who were more advanced in their moral development would perceive as lessproblematic common ethical dilemmas faced by practicing pharmacists. The DefiningIssues Test (DIT) was used as the surrogate measure of students' ethical reasoning. The hypothesis was supported (r = −0.287) at the 0.05 alpha level. The results and implications for educators are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Benor, D. E., N. Notzer, T. J. Sheehan and G. R. Norman: 1984, 'Moral Reasoning as a Criterion for Admission to Medical School,’ Medical Education 18, 423-428.
Berger, B. A.: 1993, 'Building an Effective Therapeutic Alliance: Competence, Trustworthiness, and Caring,’ American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy 50, 2399-2403.
Blasi, A.: 1980, 'Bridging Moral Cognition and Moral Action: A Critical Review of the Literature,’ Psychological Bulletin 88, 1-45.
Buerki, R. A. and L. D. Vottero: 1996, Ethical Responsibility in Pharmacy Practice, American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, Madison Wisconsin.
Carmella, P.: 1985, Moral Judgment: A Study of Professional Business Managers. Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas, Austin TX.
Grover, S. L.: 1993, 'Why Professionals Lie: The Impact of Professional Role Conflict on Reporting Accuracy,’ Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 55, 251-272.
Haddad, A. M.: 1991, 'Ethical Problems in Pharmacy Practice: A Survey of Difficulty and Incidence,’ American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 55, 1-6.
Higgins, A., C. Powers and L. Kohlberg: 1984, 'The Relationship of Moral Atmosphere to Judgments of Responsibility,’ in W. Kurtines and J. Gewitz (eds.), Morality, Moral Behavior, and Moral Development, Willey Interscience, NY pp. 142-168.
Kohlberg, L., J. Hickey and P. Scharf: 1972, 'The Justice Structure of Prison: A Theory and Intervention,’ The Prison Journal, 3-14.
Kohlberg, L.: 1969, 'Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Socialization,’ in D. A. Goslin (ed.), Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research, Rand McNally, Chicago Ill pp. 347-480.
Krichbaum, K., M. Rowan, L. Duckett, M. Ryden and K. Savik: 1994, 'The Clinical Evaluation Tool: A Measure of the Quality of Clinical Performance Nursing of Baccalaureate Students,’ Journal of Nursing Education 33(9), 395-404.
Latif, D. A., B. A. Berger, S. G. Harris, K. N. Barker, B. G. Felkey, and R. E. Pearson: 1998, 'The Relationship between Community Pharmacists' Moral Reasoning and Components of Clinical Performance,’ Journal of Social and Administrative Pharmacy 15(3), 210-224.
Leming, J. S.: 1978, 'Cheating Behavior, Situational Influence and Moral Development,’ Journal of Educational Research 71, 214-217.
Ponemon, L.: 1992, 'Ethical Reasoning and Selection-Socialization in Accounting,’ Accounting Organizations and Society 17, 239-257.
Ponemon, L. A. and D. R. L. Gabhart: 1993, Ethical Reasoning in Accounting and Auditing, Vancouver, BC: CGA-Canada Research Foundation.
Rest, J. R.: 1994, 'Background: Theory and Research,’ in D. Narvaez and J. R. Rest (eds.), Moral Development in the Professions: Psychology and Applied Ethics, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey.
Rest J. R.: 1986, Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory, Praeger, New York.
Rest J. R.: 1990, DIT Manual: Manual for the Defining Issues Test (3rd edn.), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN.
Robbins, S. P.: 1998, Organizational Behavior (8th edn.), Prentice Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River NJ.
Sheehan, T. J., S. D. Husted, D. Candee, C. D. Cook and M. Bargen: 1980, 'Moral Judgment as a Predictor of Clinical Performance,’ Evaluation and the Health Professions 8, 379-400.
Sisola, S. W.: 1995, Principled Moral Reasoning as a Predictor of Clinical Performance in Physical Therapy. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN.
Trevino, L. K.: 1986, 'Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model,’ Academy of Management 11, 601-617.
Trevino, L.K. and S.A. Youngblood: 1990. 'Bad Apples in Bad Barrels: A Causal Analysis of Ethical Decision-Making Behavior,’ Journal of Applied Psychology 75(4), 378-385.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Latif, D.A. The Relationship Between Ethical Reasoning and the Perception of Difficulty with Ethical Dilemmas in Pharmacy Students: Implications for Teaching Professional Ethics. Teaching Business Ethics 5, 107–117 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026502902003
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026502902003