The mediating role of moral reasoning in spiritual intelligence and caring behaviors in Iranian emergency nurses

Moral reasoning is necessary to the nursing profession. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mediating role of moral reasoning in spiritual intelligence and caring behaviors among Iranian emergency nurses. In this descriptive-analytical study structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed for the data analysis. the minimum required sample size determined by the number of parameters of the model was 18. Considering that 5 to 15 samples were required for each of the parameters; the required sample size was 272. Nurses working in the emergency department of all hospitals in Qom, Iran, were selected by convenience sampling. Demographic characteristics inventory, King’s Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory, Crisham’s Nursing Dilemma Test, and Wolf’s Caring Behaviors Inventory used for data collection. SPSS (V20) and Mplus were used to analyze the data. The results showed that a significant direct relationship was observed between moral reasoning and caring behaviors. According to SEM results, direct and indirect effects were observed of spiritual intelligence on caring behavior It is therefore recommended managers and hospital officials pay meticulous attention to spiritual intelligence and the power of decision-making in nurses to improve their caring behaviors.