Predicting moral intelligence in nursing students and its relationships with self-compassion, and cultural competence: A cross-sectional study

Background and Objective: In the recent era, nursing needs employees with moral intelligence, cultural competence, and self-compassion skills more than ever. This study aimed to determine the predictors of moral intelligence and its relationship with self-compassion and cultural competence in nursing students.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional and multi-center descriptive study was conducted in ۲۰۲۲. With convenience sampling, ۲۵۰ nursing students from three Iranian universities participated in this study. Data gathering included the Moral Intelligence Questionnaire, Self-Compassion Scale (short form), and Cultural Competency Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the correlation between variables, and hierarchical regression.Findings: The results showed that nursing students had good moral intelligence (۷۲.۶۳ ± ۱۱.۳۸), moderate self-compassion (۳۷.۱۹ ± ۵.۰۲), and poor cultural competence (۵۰.۰۶ ± ۱۳.۱۵). No statistically significant relationship was observed between self-compassion and cultural competence (r=۰.۱۱, p=۰.۰۷). Moral intelligence with marital status (r=۰.۱۶, p=۰.۰۱), academic year (r=۰.۱۴, p=۰.۰۳) and self-compassion (r=۰.۳۳, p<۰.۰۰۱) had a significant relationship in such a way that these variables explained ۱۵% of moral intelligence and self-compassion had the highest impact (p<۰.۰۰۱).Conclusions: Considering the moderate level of self-compassion and the poor level of cultural competence reported in the undergraduate nursing students, and also that self-compassion was known to be a predictive factor for moral intelligence, planners and educators must pay more attention to promoting self-compassion and cultural competency in the curriculum and conduct studies to find ways to improve them.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cultural Competence ، Moral Intelligence ، Self-Compassion ، Nursing Students