An exploration of how gender, political affiliation, or religious identity is associated with comfort and perceptions of controversial topics in bioethics
An exploration of how gender, political affiliation, or religious identity is associated with comfort and perceptions of controversial topics in bioethics
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探索性别、政治立场或宗教身份如何与生物伦理学中有争议话题的舒适度和看法相关
DOI：
10.1152/advan.00008.2022
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发表时间：
2022
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Barnes, M. Elizabeth
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Edwards, Baylee A.;Roberts, Julie A.;Bowen, Chloe;Brownell, Sara E.;Barnes, M. Elizabeth
生物伦理学是理解科学与社会之间关系的一个重要方面，但研究尚未考察本科生在生物伦理学课程中的体验和舒适度。在这项研究中，我们调查了本科生在学习三个有争议的生物伦理学话题：基因编辑、堕胎和医生协助自杀(PAS)时的支持和舒适度。此外，学生身份已被证明影响学生如何在科学和社会的交叉点上感知和学习有争议的话题。因此，我们探索了学生的宗教信仰、性别或政治信仰与他们在学习基因编辑、堕胎和PAS时的支持和安慰之间的关系。我们发现，大多数学生进入生命伦理学时对有争议的话题持温和的观点，但学生基于性别、宗教和政治信仰支持每个话题的倾向存在差异。我们还发现，基于身份认同的学生舒适度存在差异：女性在学习基因编辑时的舒适度低于男性，信教的学生在学习堕胎和PAS时的舒适度低于非信教的学生，而非自由派学生在学习堕胎时的舒适度低于自由派学生。学生们表示，围绕这些话题的争议以及个人在讨论这些话题时的犹豫不决导致了不适。这些发现表明，身份认同影响舒适度和支持度的方式类似于之前在公众中展示的方式。因此，对于教师来说，在教授生物伦理学主题时考虑学生身份可能很重要，以最大限度地提高学生的舒适度，最终鼓励对这些主题进行深思熟虑和参与。
Bioethics is an important aspect of understanding the relationship between science and society, but studies have not yet examined undergraduate student experiences and comfort in bioethics courses. In this study, we investigated undergraduate bioethics students’ support of and comfort when learning three controversial bioethics topics: gene editing, abortion, and physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Furthermore, student identity has been shown to influence how students perceive and learn about controversial topics at the intersection of science and society. So, we explored how students’ religious affiliation, gender, or political affiliation was associated with their support of and comfort when learning about gene editing, abortion, and PAS. We found that most students entered bioethics with moderated viewpoints on controversial topics but that there were differences in students’ tendency to support each topic based on their gender, religion, and political affiliation. We also saw differences in student comfort levels based on identity: women reported lower comfort than men when learning about gene editing, religious students were less comfortable than nonreligious students when learning about abortion and PAS, and nonliberal students were less comfortable than liberal students when learning about abortion. Students cited that the controversy surrounding these topics and a personal hesitancy to discuss them caused discomfort. These findings indicate that identity impacts comfort and support in a way similar to that previously shown in the public. Thus, it may be important for instructors to consider student identity when teaching bioethics topics to maximize student comfort, ultimately encouraging thoughtful consideration and engagement with these topics.