2026-03-06
Stefania Chiappinotto, Sara Dentice, Chris Gastmans, Michael Igoumenidis, Catherine Mc Cabe, Evridiki Papastavrou, Riitta Suhonen, Alessandro Galazzi, Alvisa Palese
There is a growing need for morally competent nurses to deal with increasingly complex situations and choices as encountered in professional daily life. However, there is no updated evidence about which characteristics, knowledge, skills, and attitudes a morally competent nurse should have and how to support their development. In the context of the EU-Erasmus+ funded project PROMOCON, this study aimed to describe the moral competences of nurses in Italy. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted, involving a purposeful sample of ten nurses and six patients’ representatives in three focus groups. Findings were analyzed in an integrated manner using the content analysis. Nurses are morally competent when they provide personalised care, motivate the patients cared for, protect them in their choices, and set an example with their behaviour. They possess basic ethical, psychological, philosophical, humanistic and legal knowledge; they can understand and relate to others, not only patients/family members but also colleagues or students in difficulty by activating resources when necessary and being empathetic, patient, respectful, responsible, and flexible.
2026-03-06
Adel Ayed Alshammari
This paper explores the societal risks that may arise from the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into defense innovations and examines how the principle of responsibility can be achieved in this context. Using a qualitative descriptive–analytical approach grounded in international reports and prior studies, the paper identifies four critical domains of societal risk: threats to human life, terrorist misuse, cyber and electronic warfare, and the lack of accountability for actions committed by autonomous or semi-autonomous systems. To address these challenges, a tri-level framework of responsibility is proposed —international, institutional, and socio-cultural— linking global ethical norms with local governance practices and moral values. The study argues that responsible innovation in AI-driven defense technologies requires ethical governance that ensures accountability, human oversight, and societal legitimacy, thereby balancing security imperatives with public trust.
2026-03-06
Abdullah Yıldız, Ayşe Kurtoğlu
This paper examines the challenges of qualitative research in medical contexts through our position as qualitative researchers, bioethicists, and ethics committee members in Turkey. We explore how biomedical paradigm dominance shapes qualitative research evaluation in medical settings, arguing that qualitative understanding is essential to medical knowledge production, not merely a methodological choice. Through experiential insights, we identify critical issues: insufficient methodological awareness among researchers, limited recognition of qualitative paradigms by ethics committees, and persistent epistemic injustice in evaluation processes, even within traditionally receptive fields. These challenges arise from deeper philosophical tensions rather than procedural difficulties. We propose reflexivity as both a methodological requirement and and ethical virtue to address qualitative research marginalization in medicine. Our analysis contributes to discussions about the relationship between ethics and science in qualitative research while offering practical insights for improving evaluation and support of qualitative methodologies in medical contexts.
2026-03-06
Meltem Akbaş
This study was conducted descriptively and cross-sectionally to determine the attitudes of healthcare professionals towards disabled women, the factors affecting them, and to evaluate their ethical dimensions. This descriptive study was conducted between 08/01/2022 and 10/31/2022 with midwives, nurses, and doctors working at the hospitals in Kahramanmaraş/Turkey. The sample size of the study was calculated with G*Power, and 307 healthcare professionals were included in the study. The research data were collected with the Personal Information Form and the Disabled Woman Attitude Scale. The data were analyzed with the SPSS for Windows 22.0 statistical package program. The total mean age of the participants was 33.60±7.51, the mean score of the disabled women and their private lives sub-dimension was 23.97±5.72, the mean score of the disabled women and disadvantages sub-dimension was 12.68±4.37, the mean score of the disabled women and social support sub-dimension was 14.88±3.33, the mean score of the disabled women and gender sub-dimension was 9.33±3.18 and the total mean score of the scale was 60.87±13.17. In this study, it was observed that the attitudes of health workers towards disabled women were positive and that receiving training for disabled individuals and gaining experience in the care and treatment of disabled individuals positively affected the attitudes towards disabled women.
2026-03-06
Jesús Armando Martínez Gómez
2026-03-06
Oya Ögenler, Selda Okuyaz
Breast cancer is the most common and life-threatening cancer among women. Individual, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics, the society in which she lives, affect the woman's quality of life and health status during the cancer process. The ethical problems women experience due to breast cancer in ordinary times have become more complex with additional problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to raise awareness about the importance of the biopsychosocial approach in the physician-patient relationship through the experiences of a case diagnosed with breast cancer. Our study evaluated and compared the experiences and opinions of a 52-year-old woman diagnosed with invasive ductal breast cancer in the first six months of the epidemic with the literature. It is clear that breast cancer is closely linked to sexual identity, and “being a cancer patient” can be described as a life-changing crisis. The pandemic period has characteristics against the cancer patient due to restrictions. She stated that the patient diagnosed with cancer had positive characteristics, such as a physician-patient relationship and social determinants in the hospital-related processes, but she experienced social exclusion due to the pandemic period. As a result, it is clear that the biopsychosocial holistic view of the health personnel is as effective as the patient's individual characteristics and social determinants, the relationship between the patient and the health personnel, and the shaping of the treatment process.
2026-03-06
Fernando Lolas Stepke
2026-03-06
Tang Tao, Ma Yu Jie
The rapid proliferation of digital finance in emerging economies has prompted new inquiries into the ethical, strategic, and technological orientations of youth-led enterprises. This study investigates how fintech startups founded by young entrepreneurs in BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) frame their organizational intent through mission and vision statements. Drawing upon a thematic analysis of 25 companies, the research examines the articulation of six critical constructs: ethical behavior, youth engagement, digital finance, risk perception, security vulnerabilities, and big data-driven supply chain platforms. The findings reveal a dominant emphasis on digital innovation and ethical positioning, with digital finance (34.7%) and ethical behavior (32.6%) emerging as the most frequently addressed themes. Conversely, risk-related narratives and cybersecurity discourse remain marginal, while youth engagement is conspicuously absent from most strategic texts, despite the demographic profile of the founders. Cross-national comparisons further underscore variation in thematic comprehensiveness, with Brazil and South Africa exhibiting the broadest strategic coverage. These results highlight both the potential and the narrative blind spots of youth-led digital finance enterprises in the Global South. The study advances theoretical discourse at the intersection of generational entrepreneurship, digital ethics, and platform governance, and offers actionable implications for regulators, investors, and founders aiming to foster resilient, inclusive, and ethically grounded fintech ecosystems.
2026-03-06
Alberto García Gómez