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Perceptions of the effectiveness of ethical guidelines: an international study of physicians

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Abstract

The intent of ethics is to establish a set of standards that will provide a framework to modify, regulate, and possibly enhance moral behaviour. Eleven focus groups were conducted with physicians from six culturally distinct countries to explore their perception of formalized, written ethical guidelines (i.e., codes of ethics, credos, value and mission statements) that attempt to direct their ethical practice. Six themes emerged from the data: lack of awareness, no impact, marginal impact, other codes or value statements supersede, personal codes or values dictate, and ethical guidelines are useful. Overall, codes were valued only when they were congruent with existing personal morality. The findings suggest the need to re-evaluate the purpose, content, and delivery of codes for them to improve their function in promoting ethical conduct.

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Notes

  1. The term ethical guidelines we use liberally to refer to a variety of official ethical documents such as codes of ethics and value statements, unless specifically identified as such.

  2. For clarity of presentation, at the end of each quotation, the physicians country is indicated whereby C = Canada, I = India, IR = Ireland, J = Japan, K = Korea, and T = Thailand.

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Acknowledgment

This research was funded by a grant held by Malloy & Hadjistavropoulos from the Social Science and Humanities Research Counsel of Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies, University of Regina, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada

    D. C. Malloy

  2. Centre on Aging and Health, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada

    D. C. Malloy & T. Hadjistavropoulos

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada

    P. Sevigny & T. Hadjistavropoulos

  4. Madras Medical College, Chennai, India

    M. Jeyaraj

  5. School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    E. Fahey McCarthy

  6. Department of Sociology, Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan

    M. Murakami

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand

    S. Paholpak

  8. College of Health Science and Human Service, University of Toledo, Toledo, USA

    Y. Lee

  9. Department of Physical Education, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

    I. Park

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  1. D. C. Malloy
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  2. P. Sevigny
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  3. T. Hadjistavropoulos
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  4. M. Jeyaraj
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  5. E. Fahey McCarthy
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  6. M. Murakami
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  8. Y. Lee
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  9. I. Park
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Correspondence to D. C. Malloy.

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Malloy, D.C., Sevigny, P., Hadjistavropoulos, T. et al. Perceptions of the effectiveness of ethical guidelines: an international study of physicians. Med Health Care and Philos 12, 373–383 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-009-9212-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-009-9212-0

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