Development and validation of nursing students’ moral sensitivity questionnaire in Taiwan

Ethical literacy is a critical aspect of professional nursing development. It is considered an essential quality that nursing professionals should possess throughout their careers. Moral sensitivity serves as the foundation for developing ethical literacy. The objective of this study was to develop a reliable tool for assessing moral sensitivity among nursing students. The questionnaire was developed following a rigorous approach, consisting of three stages process, combining the Schwartz-Barcott and Kim hybrid model of concept development with the methodology suggested by Devellis and Waltz. A total of 297 nursing students (287 females, 10 males; mean age: 18.7 years) participated in the study, with five invalid questionnaires excluded from the analysis. The questionnaire’s reliability was established through internal consistency and test-retest reliability analyses. Furthermore, the moral sensitivity questionnaire for nursing students demonstrated satisfactory validity through the results of construct, convergent and discriminant validation procedures. The study findings revealed a significant correlation between the internship performance of students and their overall moral sensitivity score. The questionnaire would be appropriated to be included as a supplemental measure for ethical literacy evaluation.