AN ADJUSTED VERSION OF KOHLBERGS MORAL THEORY - DISCUSSION OF ITS VALIDITY FOR RESEARCH IN NURSING ETHICS

Critics of Kohlberg's moral theory today focus on the content of his t heory and more specifically on its justice-orientated moral concept, T his has led to the well-known 'justice-care debate'. The purpose of th is article is to critically examine the validity of Kohlberg's moral t heory for research in nursing ethics from a caring perspective (referr ing to the content) as well as from a cognitive-structural perspective (referring to the basic assumptions of the model). The analysis point s to the usefulness and value of the cognitive-structural model to emp irically study nurses' ethical behaviour; the content of Kohlberg's mo del, however, needs to be adapted by adding a caring perspective as we ll as some personal and situational variables, An adjusted version of Kohlberg's model is proposed and discussed.