Development of Nursing Codes of Ethics in Home Care: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Background: Home care nurses face many ethical challenges in the provision of quality care. Although, many studies have been conducted on ethical issues in the hospital environment and ethical support in nursing, there are a limited number of studies on ethical issues and moral support outside of the hospital to provide long-term care, such as home care. Aim: To develop codes of ethics for home care through a mixed methods study. Methods: This study is to be conducted based on a 4-step sequential exploratory mixed methods study. In the first step, a qualitative study will be conducted by participation of the individuals involved in home care using content analysis in order to identify the ethical values of home care nursing. In the second step, to obtain credible scientific documentation, the systematic review will be based on the review and dissemination guidance applied by University of York, England. The third step will be designed by integrating the findings of qualitative studies and systematic review, drafting the original codes extracted by a nominal expert group benefiting from the specialists in qualitative studies in the fields of ethics and nursing, as well as the experts from organizations and professional institutes in the field of home care inside the country. Then, in the fourth stage, the codes will be validated through a nationwide survey of care providers to be ultimately made available to the beneficiary group. Conclusion: The findings of this mixed methods study will beobtained as the ethical codes of home care nursing. Compiling these codes will serve as a guide tool for home care nurses and other members of the health team and can reduce ethical issues such as costs, morbidities, and mortalities and ultimately leads to promoted community health by developing ethical competence forimproving the quality of home care.