The goal of this bibliographic study was to identify the theoretical approaches used to teach ethics in the health sciences area. In order to do so, abstracts of dissertation defended between 1994 and 2009, available in CAPES dissertation database, with 721 dissertation related to the theme were analyzed. The descriptor "teaching ethics" resulted in 345 studies originating mainly from Education. The descriptor "ethics in health" permitted the analysis of 393 dissertation, highlighting Nursing Graduate Programs and Collective Health. With the descriptor "ethics, education, and health", 83 dissertation were analyzed, especially from Education. Ethics is an up-to-date issue, now being studied from multiple references, highlighting issues such as: responsibility, bioethics, relationships, care, and understanding. Researching within the dissertation database allowed for a cross section of the knowledge network in ethics in health sciences and showed the need for further study in facing the diversity of theoretical, methodological, and paradigmatic references and the specific characteristics of those involved.
Nursing research; Data collection; Ethics review; Human resources in health; Health sciences students
