Job Stress and Ethical Decision-Making Among Healthcare Workers in Post-Pandemic Infectious Disease Control

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Public Health
• Psychology

Background:

• Post-pandemic healthcare workers navigate complex moral dilemmas.
• Balancing individual rights with public health concerns is a key challenge.
• Taiwan's COVID-19 measures highlighted privacy and ethical considerations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate moral judgment in healthcare workers facing different types of dilemmas.
• To investigate the influence of job stress, empathy, and sociodemographic factors on moral decision-making.
• To understand ethical navigation challenges in healthcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Observational survey of 169 healthcare workers.
• Assessment of moral judgment across Non-Moral, Impersonal Moral, and Personal Moral Dilemmas.
• Analysis of sociodemographic factors, employment details, pandemic experience, empathy, and job stress.

Main Results:

• Job stress significantly impacts moral decision-making in healthcare professionals.
• High job stress correlates with utilitarian choices in impersonal moral dilemmas, potentially due to diminished empathy.
• Job stress shows a reversed pattern in personal moral dilemmas, affecting choices involving personal connections.

Conclusions:

• Healthcare professionals' psychological well-being, empathy, and job stress are intricately linked to ethical decision-making.
• The nature of the moral dilemma significantly moderates the effect of job stress on utilitarian choices.
• Understanding these dynamics is crucial for addressing ethical navigation challenges in healthcare.