Stress Of Conscience Research Articles

Predict Moral Distress Using Workplace Stress, Stress of Conscience Mediated by Coping Using Roy Adaptation Model: A Path Analysis.

Moral distress can be predisposed when nurses are exposed to ambiguous moral situations. Is to test a conceptual model based on Roy adaptation model (RAM) to examine the relationship among workplace stress, conscience stress, and moral distress mediated by coping. A correlational, cross sectional. Data were collected from 199 licensed nurses. The findings indicated that workplace stress was related negatively to coping processes (β = -.12) and that stress of conscience was predictive of greater use of coping process (β = -.21). The results indicated that the model suggested based on RAM is saturated and is the perfect fit. However, the alternative models indicated that workplace stress moderately predicted moral distress.

Factors associated with stress of conscience among emergency medical technicians in China

The current study was designed to investigate factors related to stress of conscience among emergency medical technicians in China. One hundred and seventy-five doctors and nurses from emergency departments completed questionnaires measuring demographic information, two personality traits (i.e. responsibility and logical-affective orientation), stress of conscience and colleagues' stress of conscience. Important findings include the following: (i) Stress of conscience varied as a function of age, years of work, and marital status; (ii) Participants' stress of conscience was highly associated with colleagues' stress of conscience; and (iii) Both responsibility and a logical orientation were negatively associated with stress of conscience.

Job strain and stress of conscience among nurse assistants working in residential care

The aim was to investigate job strain and stress of conscience among nurse assistants working in residential care and to explore associations with personal and work-related aspects and health complaints. It is important to investigate job strain and stress of conscience, both for the well-being of the nurse assistants themselves and for the impact on the quality of care they provide. Questionnaires measuring job strain, stress of conscience, personal and work-related aspects and health complaints were completed by NAs (n = 225). Comparisons of high and low levels of job strain and stress of conscience and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Organisational and environmental support and low education levels were associated with low levels of job strain and stress of conscience. Personalised care provision and leadership were related to stress of conscience and the caring climate was related to job strain. There is a need for support from the managers and a supportive organisation for reducing nurse assistants work-related stress, which in turn can create a positive caring climate where the nurse assistants are able to provide high quality care. The managers' role is essential when designing supportive measures and implementing a value-system that can facilitate personalised care provision.

Person-centred climate questionnaire (PCQ-S): establishing reliability and cut-off scores in residential aged care

This study aimed to establish reliability and cut-off scores for the person-centred climate questionnaire - staff version (PCQ-S) in residential aged care. A number of tools have emerged recently to measure person-centredness, and these need psychometric evaluation and cut-off scores to enhance utilisation and interpretation. A cross-sectional survey design was employed in a Swedish sample of residential aged care staff (n = 1237). Psychometric evaluation using Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlation was used, together with establishing cut-off scores based on quartile scores. The PCQ-S had satisfactory psychometric properties and the following total scale cut-off scores for unit person-centredness were suggested: ≤ 49 ('well below average'), 50-56 ('below average'), 57-62 ('above average') and ≥ 63 ('well above average'). These cut-off scores were clinically meaningful as they separated the sample into four groups in which staff in more person-centred units reported significantly higher work satisfaction, social support and less stress of conscience. The PCQ-S has reliability in residential aged care samples, and cut-off scores are provided that provide important fundaments for comparative studies and aggregation of data to explore person-centredness care further. The study enables managers with ways to measure, interpret and compare levels of person-centredness between units and facilities for research, practice development and/or benchmarking purposes.

Prevalence of burnout and associations with psychosocial work environment, physical strain, and stress of conscience among Swedish female and male police personnel

Focus of this study was to investigate prevalence of burnout and relation to psychosocial work environment, physical strain, and stress of conscience amongst female and male police personnel in Sweden. The questionnaire was answered by 856 (55%) patrolling police officers, 437 (56%) women vs. 419 (53%) men. Prevalence and mean values for emotional exhaustion (EE) and depersonalization (DP) was higher in our study compared to other studies including police personnel in Norway and the Netherlands. A multiple logistic regressions showed that for women stress of conscience, high demand, and organizational climate was significant associated with EE, for men it was stress of conscience, decision, and high demand. For DP only stress of conscience contributed statistically significant in our model, respectively, of gender. Further research is needed to develop interventions aiming to reduce levels of burnout among police personnel in Sweden.

Caregivers in older peoples' care: perception of quality of care, working conditions, competence and personal health

The aim was to describe and compare nursing assistants', enrolled nurses' and registered nurses' perceptions of quality of care, working conditions, competence and personal health in older peoples' care. Altogether 70 nursing assistants, 163 enrolled nurses and 198 registered nurses completed a questionnaire comprising Quality from the Patient's Perspective modified for caregivers, Creative Climate Questionnaire, Stress of Conscience Questionnaire, items on education and competence and Health Index. The caregivers reported higher perceived reality of quality of care in medical-technical competence and physical-technical conditions than in identity-oriented approach and socio-cultural atmosphere. In subjective importance, the highest rating was assessed in one of the physical-technical items. The organisational climate was for three of the dimensions rather close/reached the value for a creative climate, for seven dimensions close to a stagnant climate. In perceived stress of conscience, there were low values. Nursing assistants had lower values than enrolled nurses and registered nurses. The caregivers reported highest values regarding previous education making them feel safe at work and lowest value on the item about education increasing the ability for a scientific attitude. Registered nurses could use knowledge in practice and to a higher degree than nursing assistants/enrolled nurses reported a need to gain knowledge, but the latter more often received education during working hours. The health index among caregivers was high, but registered nurses scored lower on emotional well-being than nursing assistants/enrolled nurses. The caregivers' different perceptions of quality of care and work climate need further attention. Although stress of conscience was low, it is important to acknowledge what affected the caregivers work in a negative way. Attention should be paid to the greater need for competence development among registered nurses during working hours.

Moral Distress: A Comparative Analysis of Theoretical Understandings and Inter-Related Concepts

Research on ethical dilemmas in health care has become increasingly salient during the last two decades resulting in confusion about the concept of moral distress. The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview and a comparative analysis of the theoretical understandings of moral distress and related concepts. The focus is on five concepts: moral distress, moral stress, stress of conscience, moral sensitivity and ethical climate. It is suggested that moral distress connects mainly to a psychological perspective; stress of conscience more to a theological-philosophical standpoint; and moral stress mostly to a physiological perspective. Further analysis indicates that these thoughts can be linked to the concepts of moral sensitivity and ethical climate through a relationship to moral agency. Moral agency comprises a moral awareness of moral problems and moral responsibility for others. It is suggested that moral distress may serve as a positive catalyst in exercising moral agency. An interdisciplinary approach in research and practice broadens our understanding of moral distress and its impact on health care personnel and patient care.

Empirical Research on Moral Distress: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities

Studying a concept as complex as moral distress is an ongoing challenge for those engaged in empirical ethics research. Qualitative studies of nurses have illuminated the experience of moral distress and widened the contours of the concept, particularly in the area of root causes. This work has led to the current understanding that moral distress can arise from clinical situations, factors internal to the individual professional, and factors present in unit cultures, the institution, and the larger health care environment. Corley et al. (2001) was the first to publish a quantitative measure of moral distress, and her scale has been adapted for use by others, including studies of other disciplines (Hamric and Blackhall 2007; Schwenzer and Wang 2006). Other scholars have proposed variations on Jameton's core definition (Sporrong et al. 2006, 2007), developing measures for related concepts such as moral sensitivity (Lutzen et al. 2006), ethics stress (Raines 2000), and stress of conscience (Glasberg et al. 2006). The lack of consistency and consensus on the definition of moral distress considerably complicates efforts to study it. Increased attention by researchers in disciplines other than nursing has taken different forms, some problematic. Cultural differences in the role of the nurse and understanding of actions that represent threats to moral integrity also challenge efforts to build a cohesive research-based understanding of the concept. In this paper, research efforts to date are reviewed. The importance of capturing root causes of moral distress in instruments, particularly those at unit and system levels, to allow for interventions to be appropriately targeted is highlighted. In addition, the issue of studying moral distress and interaction over time with moral residue is discussed. Promising recent work is described along with the potential these approaches open for research that can lead to interventions to decrease moral distress. Finally, opportunities for future research and study are identified, and recommendations for moving the research agenda forward are offered.

환자안전보고 촉진 교육프로그램의 개발 및 평가

본 연구는 간호의 질을 향상시키기 위해 간호사를 위한 환자안전보고촉진전략을 개발하고 평가하기 위한 것으로, 구축-실행-평가단계로 진행하였다. 구축단계는 분석과 검증의 하위단계로 구성되는데, 분석단계에서는 문헌고찰과 현장연구의 단계로 구성되고, 검증의 단계는 두 명의 전문가에 의해 평가받는 과정을 거쳤다. 이 단계를 통해 환자안전보고시스템, 교육자료, 홍보계획, 보상으로 구성된 환자안전보고촉진전략을 개발하였다. 실행단계에서는 구축단계에서 개발된 내용을 일개 병원에서 근무 중인 간호사 51명을 대상으로 12주간의 중재 후, 활용 후 만족도, 스트레스인식, 업무성과정도를 전-후 점수를 비교하여 살펴보았다. 본 연구의 설계는 단일군 전후설계를 적용하였고 서술통계 및 paired t-test 를 SPSS WIN 18.0을 활용하여 분석하였다. 중재 후 업무성과는 3.62점에서 3.75점으로 유의하게 향상시켰다(t=2.653, p=.009). 반면 환자안전보고촉진전략의 활용이 대상자들의 직무 스트레스를 증가시킬 것이라는 가정 하에 중재 전-후 점수를 비교한 결과 중재 전 3.06점에서 중재 후 3.13으로 약간 증가하였으나 통계적으로 유의한 변화를 보이지 않았다(t=.785, p=.434). 따라서 본 연구에서 개발한 전략은 많은 임상환경에 적용할 수 있을 것이고 간호사를 위한 환자안전보고를 촉진하는데 도움을 줄 수 있는 프로그램이라 사료된다. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate patient safety reporting promoting strategy for nurses to improve nursing care quality. The process included three phase - construction, implementation and evaluation phase. Before the construction phase has two kinds of subcategories as analysis and verification. Analysis phase was consisted of literature review and field study, and verification was conducted by two specialist. At the construction phase, patient safety reporting system, educational materials, planning for public relation, and reward preparation were developed. After implementation during 12 weeks, we evaluated pre-post scores of satisfaction, stress of conscience, job performances. The participants were 51 nurses working for a hospitals. The program was developed and then administered to the experimental group for 12 weeks. One group pretest-posttest design was used for this study. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, paired t-test with the SPSS WIN 18.0 program. After the intervention, job performance scores improved significantly from 3.62 to 3.75(t=2.653, p=.009). But job stress didn't changed significantly(t=.785, p=.434). These strategy can be applied to many clinical setting that will be helpful to promote patient safety reporting for nurses.

Perceptions of conscience, stress of conscience and burnout among nursing staff in residential elder care

This paper is a report of a study of patterns of perceptions of conscience, stress of conscience and burnout in relation to occupational belonging among Registered Nurses and nursing assistants in municipal residential care of older people. Stress and burnout among healthcare personnel and experiences of ethical difficulties are associated with troubled conscience. In elder care the experience of a troubled conscience seems to be connected to occupational role, but little is known about how Registered Nurses and nursing assistants perceive their conscience, stress of conscience and burnout. Results of previous analyses of data collected in 2003, where 50 Registered Nurses and 96 nursing assistants completed the Perceptions of Conscience Questionnaire, Stress of Conscience Questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory, led to a request for further analysis. In this study Partial Least Square Regression was used to detect statistical predictive patterns. Perceptions of conscience and stress of conscience explained 41.9% of the variance in occupational belonging. A statistical predictive pattern for Registered Nurses was stress of conscience in relation to falling short of expectations and demands and to perception of conscience as demanding sensitivity. A statistical predictive pattern for nursing assistants was perceptions that conscience is an authority and an asset in their work. Burnout did not contribute to the explained variance in occupational belonging. Both occupational groups viewed conscience as an asset and not a burden. Registered Nurses seemed to exhibit sensitivity to expectations and demands and nursing assistants used their conscience as a source of guidance in their work. Structured group supervision with personnel from different occupations is needed so that staff can gain better understanding about their own occupational situation as well as the situation of other occupational groups.

Stress of conscience and perceptions of conscience in relation to burnout among care‐providers in older people

The aim was to study the relationship between conscience and burnout among care-providers in older care, exploring the relationship between stress of conscience and burnout, and between perceptions of conscience and burnout. Everyday work in healthcare presents situations that influence care-providers' conscience. How care-providers perceive conscience has been shown to be related to stress of conscience (stress related to troubled conscience), and in county council care, an association between stress of conscience and burnout has been found. A questionnaire study was conducted in municipal housing for older people. A total of 166 care-providers were approached, of which 146 (50 registered nurses and 96 nurses' aides/enrolled nurses) completed a questionnaire folder containing the stress of conscience questionnaire, the perceptions of conscience questionnaire and the maslach burnout inventory. Multivariate canonical correlation analysis was used to explore relationships. The relationship between stress of conscience and burnout indicates that experiences of shortcomings and of being exposed to contradictory demands are strongly related to burnout (primarily to emotional exhaustion). The relationship between perceptions of conscience and burnout indicates that a deadened conscience is strongly related to burnout. Conscience seems to be of importance in relation to burnout, and suppressing conscience may result in a profound loss of wholeness, integrity and harmony in the self. The results from our study could be used to raise awareness of the importance of conscience in care.

Factors associated with ‘stress of conscience’ in healthcare

The main purpose of this study was to examine factors related to 'stress of conscience' i.e. stress related to a troubled conscience in healthcare. A series of questionnaires was completed by 423 healthcare employees in northern Sweden as part of this cross-sectional study. The series of questionnaires comprised the 'Stress of Conscience Questionnaire', 'Perception of Conscience Questionnaire', 'Revised Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire', Social Interactions Scale, Resilience Scale and a Personal/Work Demographic form. Nonautomatic stepwise regression analysis with forward inclusion resulted in a model that explained approximately 39.6% of the total variation in stress of conscience. Individual items associated with stress of conscience were; perceiving that conscience warns us against hurting others while at the same time not being able to follow one's conscience at work and having to deaden one's conscience to keep working in healthcare. In addition moral sensitivity items belonging to the factor 'sense of moral burden' were; one's ability to sense patient's needs means that one is doing more than one has strength for, having difficulty to deal with feelings aroused when a patient is suffering and one's ability to sense patient's needs means feeling inadequate all added significantly to the model. In addition, deficient social support from superiors, low levels of resilience and working in internal medicine wards were all associated with stress of conscience. Healthcare employees seem to experience stress of conscience in their everyday practise. Particular contributing factors are not being able to follow one's conscience at work, and the 'negative' dimension of moral sensitivity - moral burden - which is an inability to deal with moral problems. Thus, in order for conscience and moral sensitivity to become an asset instead of a burden, healthcare employees need to be able to express their moral concerns.

Perceptions of Conscience in Relation To Stress of Conscience

Every day situations arising in health care contain ethical issues influencing care providers' conscience. How and to what extent conscience is influenced may differ according to how conscience is perceived. This study aimed to explore the relationship between perceptions of conscience and stress of conscience among care providers working in municipal housing for elderly people. A total of 166 care providers were approached, of which 146 (50 registered nurses and 96 nurses' aides/enrolled nurses) completed a questionnaire containing the Perceptions of Conscience Questionnaire and the Stress of Conscience Questionnaire. A multivariate canonical correlation analysis was conducted. The first two functions emerging from the analysis themselves explained a noteworthy amount of the shared variance (25.6% and 17.8%). These two dimensions of the relationship were interpreted either as having to deaden one's conscience relating to external demands in order to be able to collaborate with coworkers, or as having to deaden one's conscience relating to internal demands in order to uphold one's identity as a 'good' health care professional.

Burnout and ‘stress of conscience’ among healthcare personnel

This paper reports a study examining factors that may contribute to burnout among healthcare personnel. The impact on burnout of factors such as workload and interpersonal conflicts is well-documented. However, although health care is a moral endeavour, little is known about the impact of moral strain. Interviews reveal that healthcare personnel experience a troubled conscience when they feel that they cannot provide the good care that they wish - and believe it is their duty - to give. In this cross-sectional study, conducted in 2003, a sample of 423 healthcare personnel in Sweden completed a battery of questionnaires comprising the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Perception of Conscience Questionnaire, Stress of Conscience Questionnaire, Social Interactions Scale, Resilience Scale and a personal/work demographic form. Regression analysis resulted in a model that explained approximately 59% of the total variation in emotional exhaustion. Factors associated with emotional exhaustion were 'having to deaden one's conscience', and 'stress of conscience' from lacking the time to provide the care needed, work being so demanding that it influences one's home life, and not being able to live up to others' expectations. Several additional variables were associated with emotional exhaustion. Factors contributing to depersonalization were 'having to deaden one's conscience', 'stress of conscience' from not being able to live up to others' expectations and from having to lower one's aspirations to provide good care, deficient social support from co-workers, and being a physician; however, the percentage of variation explained was smaller (30%). Being attentive to our own and others' feelings of troubled conscience is important in preventing burnout in health care, and staff need opportunities to reflect on their troubled conscience. Further research is needed into how a troubled conscience can be eased, particularly focusing on the working environment.