Secondary Qualitative Analysis of Moral Injury in Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses

To investigate the presence of symptoms of moral injury in obstetric and neonatal nurses.

A secondary qualitative analysis using an analytic expansion of three primary studies.

Postal mail and electronic surveys.

I used three primary studies: participants in the first consisted of 78 labor and delivery nurses, participants in the second consisted of 75 nurse-midwives, and participants in the third consisted of 22 NICU nurses.

I used Krippendorff's content analysis method for qualitative data to reanalyze the three primary data sets. The categories I used in this analysis were the 10 symptoms of moral injury that are assessed by the Moral Injury Symptoms Scale-Health Professionals Version.

When combining the three types of obstetric and neonatal participants, the top three most frequently cited symptoms of moral injury were moral concern, guilt, and self-condemnation. For participants in labor and delivery units and NICUs, moral concern was the most often described symptom, whereas for participants in midwifery it was guilt. None of the participants reported loss of meaning in their lives, loss of faith, or religious struggle. Participants who worked in NICUs did not describe any symptoms of shame or difficulty forgiving.

In addition to the primary symptoms of moral injury, reported secondary consequences of moral injury can include depression, anxiety, anger, self-harm, and social problems. Interventions such as acceptance and commitment therapy are needed to help nurses address the potential for moral injury and repair its effects. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, now more than ever, moral injury needs to be recognized in obstetric and neonatal nurses and not just in the military population.