ArticleBMC medical ethics2026
Immersive ethical role-play in undergraduate nursing ethics education: a qualitative descriptive study.
Article in BMC medical ethics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNursing ethics teaching often relies on lectures and paper-based cases, which may not adequately prepare students for ethically ambiguous clinical practice. Evidence on low-resource, narrative, immersive approaches for nursing ethics education remains limited.
objectiveTo explore how undergraduate nursing students described their ethical reasoning, ethical positioning, and perceived learning after participating in an immersive ethical role-play simulation (IERS).
designQualitative descriptive study. SETTING AND
participantsA total of 102 second-year undergraduate nursing students at Hubei Polytechnic University in central China participated in November 2025.
methodsStudents took part in a 2.5-hour, peer-enacted IERS built around an end-of-life decision-making scenario. Anonymous post-session survey data were collected using one two-part mapping item and two open-ended questions. Q1-2 responses were summarized using descriptive content analysis; Q3 responses were examined using typological analysis; and Q4 responses were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.
resultsAutonomy was the most frequently identified primary bioethical principle (50/102 responses), although students also referred to beneficence, justice, non-maleficence, and relational obligations such as filial duty. Three post-simulation positioning modes were identified: principle-based distancing, contextualized ambivalence, and value-aligned identification. Four themes described students' perceived learning gains: embodied understanding of bioethical principles, movement beyond binary moral judgment, perspective-taking and empathy, and emerging professional identity.
conclusionsThis study suggests that a low-resource, immersive role-play format may help nursing students engage with bioethical principles in context, consider multiple stakeholder perspectives, and reflect on their future professional responsibilities. The findings support IERS as a feasible complement to didactic ethics teaching, while also indicating the need for longitudinal and comparative research to assess sustained educational impact.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.