Moral Resilience and Its Association With Predictors in Emergency Nurses: A Latent Profile Analysis

Emergency nurses require strong moral resilience to maintain professional ethics and provide quality care, even when facing challenges and work-related stress. This study sought to investigate the factors influencing moral resilience profiles among emergency nurses and provide recommendations to nursing managers for their enhancement.

In January to April 2024, a total of 543 emergency nurses from 28 tertiary hospitals in Guangdong Province were surveyed. The measurements included the General Demographic Questionnaire, Rushton Moral Resilience Scale, Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, and Hospital Ethical Climate Survey. Data analysis was conducted using Mplus 8.3 to examine different moral resilience profiles. Multiple logistic regression was used to explore each profile's influencing factors.

The participating emergency nurses were categorized into 4 groups: low moral resilience group (25.6%), moral resilience potential group (31.0%), moral adversity challenge group (17.5%), and high moral resilience group (25.9%). Compared with the low moral resilience group, sex, professional title, physical health, hospital's ethical climate, and negative coping style were common influencing factors for the other 3 groups (P<.05). Supportive friends affected the moral resilience potential group and moral adversity challenge group (P<.05). Monthly income and positive coping style affected the moral adversity challenge group (P<.05). The average monthly night shifts, participation in hospital ethics courses, marital status, and positive coping style affected the high moral resilience group (P<.05).

Nursing managers can use the study's findings to develop targeted strategies to help emergency nurses enhance moral resilience, reduce work pressure, and improve emergency care quality.