PROGRESS IN THE MORAL REASONING OF BACCALAUREATE NURSING-STUDENTS BETWEEN PROGRAM ENTRY AND EXIT

Changes in moral reasoning between entry into and exit from a baccalau reate nursing program and the relationship between student characteris tics and moral reasoning at entry and exit were explored in this descr iptive study. The moral reasoning of four cohorts of students was meas ured using the Defining Issues Test (DIT). Admission grade point avera ge, prior college credits, and gender accounted for 10% of the varianc e in DIT P% scores at entry and 14% of the variance at exit from the p rogram. Female students had significantly higher moral reasoning score s than men. Age did not contribute significantly to explaining DIT sco re variance. DIT P% scores at entry for all four cohorts were within t he range of reported norms for college students. Exit scores for all f our cohorts were between the normative means for undergraduate student s and graduate students. DIT P% score gains between entry and exit wer e significant for all four cohorts. Students whose entry scores were i n the lowest categories had the greatest mean gains.