Moral Foundations and Patient-Centered Care in a Brazilian Maternity Ward: A Survey Study

To investigate the relation between moral foundations and patient-centered care in health professionals who work in the delivery room and in the rooming-in.

Single-center quantitative survey study.

This survey was conducted in a Brazilian maternity ward. The Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ-20) and the Care in Dialogue Competence Scale (CDCS) were administered to health professionals working in the delivery room and rooming-in areas. Analysis included descriptive statistics and Spearman correlations. Data were analyzed using Stata version 19.0.

A total of 80 health professionals were included, and the median age was 34 years (IQR: 28.5-44). Cronbach's alpha of the MFQ-20 was 0.8480, and CDCS was 0.8499. In the MFQ-20, fairness and care were the domains with the highest median, and in the CDCS, communication and dialogue with the patient. MFQ-20 and CDCS were correlated (0.54; p < 0.001). Purity presented the highest domain-specific correlation with CDCS (0.48; p < 0.0001).

In this maternity ward, health professionals' moral foundations are correlated with patient-centered care. Although fairness and care were the MFQ-20 domains with the highest medians, purity was the domain most strongly correlated to CDCS.

Clinical practice requires health professionals to use moral dimensions that are part of their individual essence, and this can correlate with patient-centered care, a dimension of quality care.

These results contribute to a better understanding of the relations between moral foundations and patient-centered care in neonatology. By highlighting moral motivations strongly associated with patient-centered care, we can strengthen it.