Ethical Dilemmas Encountered in the Clinic and Physicians’ Choices for Action; a Qualitative Survey on Psychiatrists in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze the ethical dilemmas faced by psychiatrists in Turkey and their action preferences with different ethical analysis methods. In this descriptive-qualitative study, the ethical awareness levels and ethically appropriate action preferences of psychiatrists for ethical dilemmas will be analyzed within the context of different ethical approaches. It is planned to evaluate the responses of psychiatrists to ethical dilemmas they may encounter in clinical practice. For this evaluation, ten cases were created that pointed to different ethical problems. For each case, four possible action choices are defined. Participants will be asked to choose one(s) of these preferences. In addition, a fictional revision that changes the ethical problem universe will be made in each case and it will be asked whether a different attitude from the first chosen one is preferred. The expected result of the study is the necessity of clinical ethics education for psychiatrists.