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Dr. Eun-Jun Park is Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Konkuk University, Chungju-si; and Dr. Mihyun Park is Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea.
This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea, funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (2009-0064667). The supporting source did not have any involvement in the current study.
The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
The goal of undergraduate nursing ethics education is to ensure that students, as future nursing professionals, are prepared to cope with ethical issues in nursing in a manner that is consistent with a professional nurse's role. To achieve this goal, ethical decision making is recognized as a core skill for students to achieve in ethics courses, and an effective pedagogical approach to teaching this skill is a concern of nurse educators. The use of ethical decision-making models, case analyses, or group discussion with clinical vignettes is effective in ethics education ( Cannaerts, Gastmans, & de Casterle, 2014 ). However, there are constraints on students' time regarding the adoption of diverse pedagogical approaches in an ethics course. Technology-based computer programs are emerging in education, with merits such as greater accessibility due to being offered anywhere and anytime and the possibility for alignment to the learner's needs and pace, thus providing a solution to students' lack of time ( Hwang & Wu, 2014 ). The current study describes the effects of the use of a case-based computer program, which is based on the integrative ethical decision-making model (IEDM; Park, 2012, 2013 ), on students' ethical decision-making competency.
Integrative Ethical Decision-Making Model
A structured ethical decision-making model is usually introduced to guide students, and the IEDM ( Park, 2012 ) is an exemplar of such a model. The IEDM was developed by critically reviewing and integrating 20 ethical decision-making models. The IEDM consists of the following six steps:
Identification of an ethical problem.
Collection of additional information to identify the problem and develop solutions.
Development of alternatives for analysis and comparison.
Selection and justification of the best alternatives.
Development of diverse, practical ways to implement ethical decisions and actions.
Evaluation of effects and the development of...