Background:

The awareness and development of professional values affect the quality of nursing care. This study is the first interventional study conducted to develop the professional values of nurses in a clinical setting.

Objectives:

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of a structured Professional Values Development Programme on the development of the professional values of nurses.

Research design:

This study was a non-randomised controlled trial that measured with pre-test and post-test. Data were collected by using an Individual Identification Form and the Nurses’ Professional Values Scale–Revised. The intervention group was involved in a 12-week programme. Participants in the control group received the programme after all data had been collected. Data collection for both groups was conducted at baseline and a 12-week follow-up. Expert opinions were evaluated by the Kendall Coefficient of Correlation test. Chi-square tests and t-tests were used to evaluate group differences. This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov.

Participants and research context:

This study was conducted with 80 nurses (intervention group = 40, control group = 40). This study was conducted in paediatric clinics in two university hospitals in Turkey.

Ethical considerations:

In order to conduct this study, ethics committee approval was obtained. This study was performed according to the Helsinki Declaration. Participants were informed verbally and in writing, and informed consent was obtained by giving explanations.

<sc>F</sc>indings

In the analysis, the two groups were similar in demographic variables. The only significant difference between the groups was between weekly working hours. Participants in the intervention group reported statistically significantly higher levels of professional values (p = 0.001) than those in the control group.

Discussions and conclusions:

This study provides evidence of the positive effectiveness of the Professional Values Development Programme in the development of professional values of clinical nurses. It also demonstrated the feasibility of implementing the programme with clinical nurses.