Ethical and academic factors influencing the moral courage of nursing students

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives: to assess the levels of moral courage among Brazilian undergraduate nursing students and examine the ethical and academic factors that influence it. Methods: cross-sectional study conducted with 130 nursing students who answered an online questionnaire containing sociodemographic information, variables related to the ethical and academic context, and the Brazilian version of the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale Descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Spearman’s correlation, and multiple linear regression were performed. Results: the average moral courage score was 61.58 (±9.55), positively correlated with satisfaction with the program, academic performance, relationship with educators, and especially confidence in one’s own ethical principles. The strongest predictors were confidence in ethical principles (β = 0.455) and academic performance (β = 0.225), explaining 26.9% of the variance. Conclusions: findings suggest that fostering students’ ethical confidence and academic success may strengthen their moral courage, with implications for nursing education and professional development.