Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar;28(3):279-292.
doi: 10.1177/13591053221111850. Epub 2022 Jul 14.

Moral distress during COVID-19: The importance of perceived organizational support for hospital nurses

Abigail L Latimer  1 , Melanie D Otis  1 , Gia Mudd-Martin  1 , Debra K Moser  1
Affiliations

Moral distress during COVID-19: The importance of perceived organizational support for hospital nurses

Abigail L Latimer et al. J Health Psychol. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Moral distress, or the inability to act congruent with moral beliefs, has been of concern for healthcare professionals especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospital nurses are particularly affected in their roles with mounting administrative pressures and demands. We examined whether general and COVID-specific support in employing healthcare organizations predicted moral distress in a sample of inpatient hospital nurses. A total of 248 nurses completed the Measure of Moral Distress for Healthcare Professionals, Survey of Perceived Organizational Support, COVID Organizational Support survey, and the Hospital Ethical Climate Scale. We found that general and COVID-related organizational support were predictors of moral distress after controlling for age, gender, working in an intensive care unit setting, and ethical climate. Findings support the need for a comprehensive strategy to address moral distress, including institutional efforts to convey support and commitment. Strategies moral distress may be experienced differently based on gender identity.

Keywords: COVID-19; healthcare professionals; healthcare system; moral distress; organizational support.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Altaker KW, Howie-Esquivel J, Cataldo JK. (2018) Relationships among palliative care, ethical climate, empowerment, and moral distress in intensive care unit nurses. American Journal of Critical Care 27(4): 295–302. - PubMed
    1. Baker L, Egan-Lee E, Martimianakis MA, et al. (2011) Relationships of power: Implications for interprofessional education. Journal of Interprofessional Care 25(2): 98–104. - PubMed
    1. Baran BE, Shanock LR, Miller LR. (2012) Advancing organizational support theory into the twenty-first century world of work. Journal of Business and Psychology 27(2): 123–147.
    1. Cacchione PZ. (2020) Moral distress in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical Nursing Research 29(4): 215–216. - PubMed
    1. Christodoulou-Fella M, Middleton N, Papathanassoglou EDE, et al. (2017) Exploration of the association between nurses’ moral distress and secondary traumatic stress syndrome: Implications for patient safety in mental health services. BioMed Research International 2017: 1–19. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types