Effect of empowerment program on moral distress and caregiving behaviors among intensive care unit nurses in end-of-life patients care

Determine the effect of an empowerment program on moral distress and caregiving behaviors among intensive care unit nurses in end-of-life patient care

In this two-group randomized controlled trial study, first, 104 nurses will be selected through convenience sampling, and subsequently, they will be divided into control and intervention groups using the quadruple block randomization method.

This study will be a two-group randomized controlled trial involving 104 nursing practitioners in Hamadan. Within the intervention group, the researcher will conduct seven weekly sessions of the empowerment program, each lasting between 45 to 60 minutes. These sessions will cover topics such as recognising caring behaviors and moral distress, the ramifications of non-adherence, strategies to counteract unethical conduct, management of disruptive behaviors, mitigation of factors contributing to unethical practices, approaches to address moral distress, and subsequent evaluation. Assessments of moral distress and the caring behaviors of nurses will be conducted immediately after, and one month following, the final session of the empowerment program. The control group will not partake in any intervention.

Inclusion criteria: consent to participate in the study, at least one year of work experience in intensive care units, and not having completed ethics-related courses in the past year. Exclusion criteria: unwillingness to continue participating in the study and absence of more than one session in the course classes.

The researcher will hold Empowerment program sessions for the intervention group during 7 weekly sessions for 45 to 60 minutes. Control group: nurses in the control group will not receive any intervention.

Nurses's moral distress and caring behaviors

The randomization method will be done using the permutation block method. In such a way that first, four blocks of ABBA, AABB, ABAB, BBAA, BAAB and BABA will be produced in a number that covers the study sample and will be placed in envelopes. Then, when the nurse enters the study, one of the envelopes will be randomly selected, and the first four nurses will be assigned to two groups according to the desired block. This process will continue until the total number of samples is completed.