Professional Values from Nursing Students’ Perspective in a Selected Military University in Tehran in 2019

Background and Aim: Professional values are standards for action and provide a framework for evaluating professional behavior. Understanding the perception of professional values by nurses is an important step towards effective decision-making and improving patient care quality. Given the different perspectives of understanding the importance and application of professional values in nursing students, this study aimed to investigate the professional values from the perspective of nursing students at the selected military medical university. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 134 students of a military nursing college in Tehran, Iran were selected through simple convenience sampling in 2019. Data were collected using a two-part questionnaire that included demographic variables and Nursing Professional Values Scale-Revised (NPVS-R) 26-item in the five dimensions (caring, activism, trust, professionalism, and justice). Data were analyzed using SPSS 16. Results: Mean scores of caring, activism, trust, professionalism, justice and overall dimensions were 4.10±0.62, 3.81±0.70, 4.01±0.70, 3.86±0.81, 4.13±0.69 and 3.99±0.58 respectively. From the students' perspective, justice and activism were the most important and least important aspects of professional values, respectively. There was a significant correlation between age, gender, marital status and level of education with professional values (P<0.05). Conclusion: Although professional values from nursing students’ perspective were very important, understanding the importance of certain aspects of the professional values which are related to the nurses’ nonclinical tasks, participate in activities of scientific associations and professional nursing policy decisions requires further support. Therefore, it is recommended that appropriate educational planning is required to enhance the overall area of nursing professional values.