Investigation of nursing students' and professional nurses' attitudes towards ethical issues of assisted reproduction

Background/Aim: Various ethical problems have emerged regarding Assisted Reproduction (AR). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the attitudes of nursing students and professional nurses against assisted reproduction with emphasis on current ethical issues.Material and methods: The research sample consisted of 150 ATEI nursing students and 150 professional nurses. A questionnaire with open and closed type questionnaires was used. Contingency tables and X 2 test were used. Statistical significant was set at p<0.05. Results: Mean age of nurses was 34,41±7,28 years old, while mean age of students was 21,83±3,07 years old. Nursing students are more receptive regarding cryopreserved human germ cells for future use, cloning of embryos and AR above 40 years of age. Conclusions: The attitudes of professional nurses and nursing students upon bioethical issues of AR are quite different. Nursing students seem more receptive against new methods of AR.