Abstract:

Theoretical Framework:
Moral courage is a complicated, complex phenomenon that is not easy to define and analyze, specifically in a clinical environment. Empirical researchers traditionally pay attention to ethical problems in clinical settings where healthcare professionals are confronted with several ethically problematic situations. These challenging situations call for moral courage not just in healthcare workers but also in nursing students entering the clinical environment to acquire competencies and improve professional skills to provide the best nursing care for patients. This study aims to address moral courage focusing on nursing students witnessing insufficient care and unprofessional unethical behavior during their clinical practice. They face complex ethical dilemmas about how to act ethically even in the presence of risk and demonstrate moral courage. These may be challenging for them due to many circumstances and factors.

Research aims:
The main research aim was to find attitudes and opinions of undergraduate nursing students on moral courage and its implementation in clinical practice.

Methods:
This study is a partial part of the research. A mixed research design was used by the quantitative method of a questionnaire and a qualitative method of a semi-structured interview. The research sample was 149 undergraduate nursing students;10 students took part in the interviews.

Findings:
According to data, students are often afraid to advocate for patient quality care and safety in clinical settings because they fear its consequences. Four main factors contribute to this aspect. First, on the students' side, their developing self-efficacy and a position in the clinical departments where there are often perceived as undesirable according to their subjective testimony. Second, research also shows the other two critical factors - the necessity of ethics education and the importance of senior nurses, mentors, and academic teachers as role models essential for desirable courageous behavior in students.

Keywords:

Moral courage, ethics education, undergraduate nursing students.