the nurses' role, but it does not reflect the values, experience and passion of nursing. Swanson suggests that nursing has to do with "science, concern for humanity and caring.29 What exactly does it mean to care? Mayeroff describes caring as an interaction which offers space for personal growth for both the carer and the cared.32 Roach says that caring describes precious moments when participants realise their common base of humanity".33 Burnard and Chapman suggest that the most important elements of caring are: "knowledge, alternating rhythms in relationships and continuous changes in reactions to others, patience, honesty, trust, humility, hope and courage".9 In Nursing however, the element of caring is undervalued because the profession was viewed as "women’s work" in which, care is governed by sentiment and not by logic.34 Nursing was perceived by society as an extension of medicine while curing is regarded more important than "enhancing life quality" and preserving human dignity".29 On the other hand, Roach says that the curecare dichotomy used to distinguish nursing from medicine is an artificial one.33 As McNeil et al say, "care is the basis and precondition of all cure".34 Swanson proposes a structure for caring which includes maintaining belief in persons, knowing the other person, being with, doing for, and enabling.29 The last two are the most important parts related to research. Doing for, means predicting individual needs, encouraging, performing tasks with adequate skills and competence, protecting the patient from harm and preserving the dignity. On the other hand, enabling, means enhancing self-care by training, informing and explaining to the patient as well as assisting with finding alternatives.29 Leininger supports the thesis that:"there is no discipline that is so directly and intimately involved with caring needs and behaviours than the discipline of Nursing".35 However, caring is not unique in nursing. Other professions can also claim that caring is an important part of their practice. It can not be stated either that all nursing procedures include caring.29 What is more, can nursing today be a synonym of caring? The vulnerability of the sick and the lack of patient participation in health care, creates a danger of patient exploitation by nurses.13 HEALTH SCIENCE JOURNAL ® VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1 (2011) What are the Major Ethical Issues in Conducting Research? Is there a Conflict between the Research Ethics and the Nature of Nursing? pp: 3-14 E-ISSN:1791-809X www.hsj.gr Health Science Journal® All Rights Reserved 9 The rapid change and development of nursing emerged the need for a code of professional conduct to guide nurses in their practice. Advocacy in nursing Advocacy primarily used in legal contexts, refers to the protection of human rights of people who cannot defend them for themselves.17 The role of nurses as advocates is closely related to the purpose of nursing, the nurses views about humans and the needs of persons in health care.36 In literature advocacy is described in three different models: The rights protection model implies that nurses helps persons to understand and exercise their rights. They also aim to protect and enhance personal autonomy.37 The value based decision model suggests that nurses should not impose decisions but assist persons to decide which choices are most consistent with their values. They should also support the patients' confidence in their own decisions and prevent limitations of their freedom.17 This model is considered by Gadow in the "existential advocacy" which focuses on the clarification and reconsideration of the values of the patients by self examination.38 According to Fowler and Arrif this thesis is distinct from both "paternalistic and consumer rights protection" and declares the fundamental rights of self determination.17 However according to Johnstone, Gadow does not provide adequate reasoning why self-determination is the most important value or why the human rights claim to selfdetermination are quite different from a patients rights claim to self-determination. Last, the respect for persons model focuses on human dignity, privacy and selfdetermined choices that the nurse has to protect if the person