Psychometric evaluation of the Moral Distress Risk Scale: A methodological study

Moral distress is a kind of suffering that nurses may experience when they act in ways that are considered inconsistent with moral values, leading to a perceived compromise of moral integrity. Consequences are mostly negative and include physical and psychological symptoms, in addition to organizational implications.

To psychometrically test the Moral Distress Risk Scale.

A methodological study was realized. Data were submitted to exploratory factorial analysis through the SPSS statistical program.

In total, 268 nurses from hospitals and primary healthcare settings participated in this research during the period of March to June of 2016.

This research has ethics committee approval.

The Moral Distress Risk Scale is composed of 7 factors and 30 items; it shows evidence of acceptable reliability and validity with a Cronbach's α = 0.913, a total variance explained of 59%, a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin = 0.896, and a significant Bartlett <0.001.

Concerns about moral distress should be beyond acute care settings, and a tool to help clarify critical points in other healthcare contexts may add value to moral distress speech.

Psychometric results reveal that the Moral Distress Risk Scale can be applied in different healthcare contexts.