A study the Status of Moral Intelligence in Nurses across Kashan Hospitals in 2015

Moral Intelligence refers to the capacity to understand right from wrong and having strong and deep moral convictions and good behavior. Moral intelligence is associated with right work and adherence to ethics. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to determine moral intelligence in nurses at Kashan Hospitals in 2015. The research was a sectional-description one in terms of data collection. Research population included all nurses in Kashan hospitals (N=577) among whom 196 people were selected as samples using Cochran Formulate and stratified random sampling. A forty-item researcher-made questionnaire with four components of honesty (16 questions), forgiveness (8 questions), responsibility (12 questions) and empathy (4) in the form of five-scale Likert were used to measure moral intelligence. Questionnaire validity was confirmed by experts. Using Cronbach alpha coefficient, questionnaire reliability were calculated 0.897. Data analysis in descriptive level (frequency, percentage, mean & standard deviation) and inferential level (one sample t test and Univariate) was done by SPSS 19 statistical software. Findings showed that the mean of moral intelligence components (3.38±0.35) was higher than average (3). The highest mean score was related to forgiveness (3.48 ±0.39). ANOVA test revealed that there were no significant differences in the level of moral intelligence in nurses in terms of gender, level of education, work experience and employment status. According to the findings, nurse's moral intelligence level was desirable. Optimal levels of moral intelligence in nurses may denote the importance of attaining moral values among nurses, and can also be, in an implicit way, a symptomatic of their moral conduct in healthcare environments. Although the level of moral intelligence components in research community was in a favorable situation, moral intelligence is an ability can be acquired and developed.