Comparing the effect of dispositional and contextual ethical sensitivity in ethical decision-making of medical students: A cross-sectional study

As awareness of medical ethics is the first step in the successful implementation of ethical decision-making, the importance of ethical sensitivity has been frequently highlighted. This study aimed to explore the different influencing mechanisms of dispositional and contextual ethical sensitivity (CES) in medical students’ ethical decision-making. Based on Rest’s four-stage ethical decision-making model, this research highlights the importance of ethical sensitivity in ethical decision-making. Using the Credamo platform, we generated a questionnaire link and randomly selected 678 medical students from 3 cities in China as our research sample. We constructed a mediation model for a comparative study to analyze the mediating roles of ethical judgment in the relationship between dispositional ethical sensitivity/CES and ethical intention. The results showed that medical students’ dispositional ethical sensitivity positively affects their ethical intentions, and CES negatively affects their ethical intentions; the relationship between dispositional/CES and ethical intention is mediated by ethical judgment. Our research indicates that medical schools ought to implement a variety of strategies to enhance the ethical sensitivity of their students, thereby improving their capacity to make ethical decisions. These findings hold important implications for the progression of medical ethics education.