Interprofessionals' definitions of moral resilience

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Ethics
• Clinical Psychology
• Professional Development

Background:

• Moral distress significantly impacts healthcare providers, necessitating strategies to mitigate its negative effects.
• Limited research exists on resolving moral distress, highlighting a critical need for effective interventions.
• Building individual resilience and fostering an ethical practice culture are promising approaches to address moral distress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the common characteristics and themes of moral resilience.
• To identify factors contributing to moral resilience among interprofessional clinicians in healthcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative descriptive methods were employed to analyze data.
• Descriptive definitions were provided by 184 interprofessional healthcare clinicians.
• An additional 23 professionals from diverse backgrounds, including chaplaincy and non-healthcare roles, participated.

Main Results:

• Three primary themes emerged: integrity (personal and relational) and buoyancy.
• Three subthemes were identified: self-regulation, self-stewardship, and moral efficacy.
• These themes provide a framework for understanding and cultivating moral resilience.

Conclusions:

• Healthcare providers and systems can utilize these findings to develop interventions that cultivate moral resilience.
• Moral resilience requires fostering individual capacity to navigate adversity and establishing supportive systems for ethical practice.
• This research offers a foundation for negating the detrimental effects of moral distress in healthcare.