Moral courage represents a vital quality that enables nurses to effectively manage ethical challenges, fulfill their professional responsibilities toward patients, and consistently uphold core ethical standards. This trait can be shaped by a range of influences, including personal attributes, professional elements, organizational conditions, and leadership dynamics. The current study sought to identify the key predictors of moral courage in nurses practicing in hospital settings. In 2018, a cross-sectional observational study was performed involving 267 nurses from six hospitals in northern Iran. Participants were recruited using simple random sampling. Data collection involved a demographic questionnaire and two standardized instruments: a validated measure of moral courage and another to evaluate the ethical climate. Linear regression was used to identify predictors of moral courage.
The participants obtained a mean moral courage score of 87.07 ± 15.52 and a mean ethical climate score of 96.12 ± 17.17. Findings revealed that ethical climate and monthly overtime hours together explained 16% of the variance in nurses’ moral courage scores. The study emphasizes the critical need to develop a strong ethical workplace environment and to reduce overtime hours as effective strategies for strengthening nurses’ moral courage. These outcomes have important implications for clinical nursing practice and for healthcare organizations aiming to promote ethical standards.
