[Tendency of the studies on moral harassment and nurses]

This is an Integrative Literature Review that aims to analyze productions on moral harassment in nursing published in journals in Brazil and abroad. Articles from 1999 to 2009 were researched in online databases, comprising a sample of 18 publications. After careful reading seven thematic categories were built: evaluation of the moral harassment; behaviors of moral harassment on the part of male nurses; consequences of the moral harassment; coping strategies adopted by nurses; moral harassment in nursing as race and gender discrimination; moral harassment among nursing professionals; institutions as propagators of moral harassment. Results confirm the presence of moral harassment in nursing. However, they indicate that these professionals have been accepting and reproducing this kind of violence as part of the organizational culture, thus showing a need to educate this population and the health institutions themselves about moral harassment and its damages.