Abstract
Research indicates that appropriately designed educational interventions may impact positively on moral reasoning competencies development (MRCD) as measured by a psychometric measure known as the Defining Issues Test (DIT). However, findings include that educational interventions intended to impact on MRCD do not consistently promote measurable pre-post development. This paper reviews the theoretical background to the use of educational interventions to impact on MRCD, and spotlights how underpinning Neo-Kohlbergian theory might inform the design of an intervention in order to optimise impact on MRCD.
 Findings indicate that peer debate - regarding ethical concepts in profession-specific dilemma scenarios, what action(s) might be taken and how ‘less than ideal’ action options might be justified - is essential. Five examples of an adapted format of ‘Neo-Kohlbergian’ profession-specific ‘intermediate concept measures’ (ICMs) are included and were integrated into a 16 week blended learning educational intervention in a manner that promoted repeated exposure to peer debate regarding dilemmas, and the educational intervention design was trialled in a study with 27 volunteer community pharmacists in Ireland. An overview of the design, development and delivery of the intervention is provided. The paper concludes with recommendations for further development of the ‘idea’.
 Conflict of Interest: None
 
 Type: Idea Paper
Highlights
Research indicates that appropriately designed educational interventions may impact positively on moral reasoning competencies development (MRCD) as measured by a psychometric measure known as the Defining Issues Test (DIT).[1,2]
Underpinning theory proposes that identified deficits in MRCD might be addressed by engagement with educational interventions that have been designed with reference to Neo-Kohlbergian theory (NKT) and are appropriate to the context of professional practice.[1,2,8]
The aims of this paper are to: 1) review NKT underpinning the use of educational interventions to impact on MRCD, 2) report how NKT can inform the design of interventions in order to optimise impact on development, 3) provide an overview of the design, development and delivery of an educational intervention that impacted on DIT scores of community pharmacists in Ireland[11] and 4) provide recommendations for further development of this approach to MRCD
Summary
Research indicates that appropriately designed educational interventions may impact positively on moral reasoning competencies development (MRCD) as measured by a psychometric measure known as the Defining Issues Test (DIT).[1,2] Underpinned by Neo-Kohlbergian theory (NKT), research shows that higher DIT scores increase the probability that healthcare professionals will make decisions in the patient's ‘best interests’ and/ or ‘report’ medical errors.[1,2,3,4,5,6,7] Underpinning theory proposes that identified deficits in MRCD might be addressed by engagement with educational interventions that have been designed with reference to NKT and are appropriate to the context of professional practice.[1,2,8] such educational interventions do not consistently promote measurable pre-post development on the DIT, in which case the strategy or approach to intervention design merits review.[1,2,6,7,8] In addition, research by Latif and Berger indicates that community pharmacists, referred to as ‘retail’ pharmacists, are a rare exception to the expectation that DIT moral reasoning scores increase with age or ‘tenure’. The aims of this paper are to: 1) review NKT underpinning the use of educational interventions to impact on MRCD, 2) report how NKT can inform the design of interventions in order to optimise impact on development, 3) provide an overview of the design, development and delivery of an educational intervention that impacted on DIT scores of community pharmacists in Ireland[11] and 4) provide recommendations for further development of this approach to MRCD
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