Analysis of Kohlberg's Theory and Its Application in Healthcare

This essay explores the application of Kohlberg's theory of moral development within the healthcare setting. It examines how healthcare professionals, such as nurses and doctors, navigate ethical dilemmas and make decisions based on their stage of moral reasoning. The essay discusses the pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional levels of moral development, highlighting how individuals' perceptions of morality evolve. The study emphasizes that healthcare professionals often operate within the social order-maintaining and social-contract orientation stages. It also touches upon how gender and professional roles can influence ethical perspectives, such as the differing emphasis on justice versus care. The essay concludes by stressing the importance of adhering to ethical standards to ensure effective patient care. The essay references the works of Gibbs (2013) and Prescott, Becket & Wilson (2014) to support its arguments.

Kohlberg’s Theory and Healthcare
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The essay aims to evaluate the influence of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
in healthcare practice. Relationship between an occupation and relevant ethical reasoning has
been a subject of extensive study in recent times, a more so in the field of healthcare as
nurses and doctors frequently face moral and ethical problems in their profession.
Following the framework of Piaget’s model of cognitive thinking Kohlberg devised a
theory of moral development having three high-order levels, each subdivided into two stages.
The three high-order stages comprised of Pre-conventional level, Conventional level and
Post-conventional level or principled level, each represents fundamental shift in an individual
perception of morality (Gibbs, 2013). His theory concluded that a person’s modal
development largely interacted with social situations and conventions. A person tends to
change their perception of morality when faced with challenging situation or situations that
strongly oppose their already existing moral beliefs. He postulated that movement through
the levels of moral reasoning were universal and strictly sequential. The pre-conventional
stage reflects an egocentric perspective. In the next level the moral perspective shift from self
to ideas accepted by a group or community and lastly the post conventional level includes
thinking beyond both self and society. The healthcare professionals mostly operate in levels
IV and V which are social order-maintaining stage and social-contract orientation
respectively (Prescott, Becket & Wilson, 2014). In health care studies have found moral
differences based on gender as well as type of profession. Such as doctors are found to be
more inclined towards justice perspective while nurses towards care perspective. These
differences are often attributed to factors such as gender and established standards.
It is evident that healthcare professionals belong to particular stages of Kohlberg’s
theory of moral development. Any deviation from the accepted standards may reflect lack of
effective care which is highly undesirable, particularly in this field of profession.

References
Gibbs, J. C. (2013). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg,
Hoffman, and Haidt. Oxford University Press.
Prescott, J., Becket, G., & Wilson, S. E. (2014). Moral development of first-year pharmacy
students in the United Kingdom. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 78(2), 36.