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Nursing & Health Sciences Sep 2021Moral courage and understanding of its meaning are essential when nurses face ethical conflicts in their practice. This integrative review aimed to explore moral courage... (Review)
Review
Moral courage and understanding of its meaning are essential when nurses face ethical conflicts in their practice. This integrative review aimed to explore moral courage in nursing and possible associated individual and organizational factors. A database search in January 2020 identified 1308 scientific articles of which 25 were selected for the review. Inductive analysis with clear steps for defining and synthesizing themes in research reviews revealed three categories concerning moral courage in nursing: definition and descriptions of moral courage, characteristics of the morally courageous nurse, and skills and acts of the morally courageous nurse. Individual and organizational factors, such as positive personal experiences, commitment to ethical principles, supportive work environment and teamwork, were associated with moral courage in nursing, contributing to a more comprehensive description of nurses' moral courage. Findings indicate that in nursing practice, there is a need for promoting multi-professional collaboration and discussion of ethical dilemmas to provide opportunities to enhance moral courage. Developing care environments in which hierarchy does not inhibit nurses' moral courage seems justified. Further research on moral courage with varying methodologies and multi-disciplinary and international approaches is needed.
Topics: Courage; Ethics, Nursing; Humans; Morals; Nurses; Resilience, Psychological
PubMed: 33389792
DOI: 10.1111/nhs.12805 -
Nursing Ethics Mar 2021Nurses find themselves in a unique position - between patient and physicians, and in close proximity to the patient. Moral sensitivity can help nurses to cope with the...
Nurses find themselves in a unique position - between patient and physicians, and in close proximity to the patient. Moral sensitivity can help nurses to cope with the daily turmoil of demands and opinions while delivering care in concordance with the value system of the patient. This article aims to reconsider the concept of moral sensitivity by discussing the function of emotions in morality. We turn to the ideas of historic and contemporary authors on the function of emotions in morality to expand our understanding of moral sensitivity. Ancient philosophers and contemporary psychologists uphold different strategies on the orientation of morality being (a) personal growth or (b) community living, and the primordial function of (c) reason and (d) emotions in the creation of judgements about good and bad. The theoretical discussion on the function of emotions in morality shows that by focusing on reason alone, one leaves out an essential part of morality. The concept of moral sensitivity should (1) include an initial judgment of good and bad based on emotions, (2) hold the ability to reflect on the initial judgement and the associated emotions, (3) include the ability to understand other stakeholders' perspectives based on the ideal-types and (4) include a personal decision on the right course of action.
Topics: Emotions; Humans; Judgment; Morals
PubMed: 32787609
DOI: 10.1177/0969733020930407 -
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2023
Topics: Humans; Demoralization; Depression; Suicidal Ideation; Neoplasms
PubMed: 37231894
DOI: 10.1159/000530760 -
Annual Review of Psychology Jan 2024Nearly five billion people around the world now use social media, and this number continues to grow. One of the primary goals of social media platforms is to capture and... (Review)
Review
Nearly five billion people around the world now use social media, and this number continues to grow. One of the primary goals of social media platforms is to capture and monetize human attention. One means by which individuals and groups can capture attention and drive engagement on these platforms is by sharing morally and emotionally evocative content. We review a growing body of research on the interrelationship of social media and morality as well its consequences for individuals and society. Moral content often goes viral on social media, and social media makes moral behavior (such as punishment) less costly. Thus, social media often acts as an accelerant for existing moral dynamics, amplifying outrage, status seeking, and intergroup conflict while also potentially amplifying more constructive facets of morality, such as social support, prosociality, and collective action. We discuss trends, heated debates, and future directions in this emerging literature.
Topics: Humans; Social Media; Morals; Punishment; Social Support
PubMed: 37906950
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-022123-110258 -
BMC Medical Ethics Mar 2023Given that biases can distort bioethics work, it has received surprisingly little and fragmented attention compared to in other fields of research. This article provides... (Review)
Review
Given that biases can distort bioethics work, it has received surprisingly little and fragmented attention compared to in other fields of research. This article provides an overview of potentially relevant biases in bioethics, such as cognitive biases, affective biases, imperatives, and moral biases. Special attention is given to moral biases, which are discussed in terms of (1) Framings, (2) Moral theory bias, (3) Analysis bias, (4) Argumentation bias, and (5) Decision bias. While the overview is not exhaustive and the taxonomy by no means is absolute, it provides initial guidance with respect to assessing the relevance of various biases for specific kinds of bioethics work. One reason why we should identify and address biases in bioethics is that it can help us assess and improve the quality of bioethics work.
Topics: Humans; Bias; Bioethics; Ethical Theory; Morals
PubMed: 36879251
DOI: 10.1186/s12910-023-00894-0 -
Perfusion Mar 2024Early in 2022 the first pig to human cardiac xenotransplant was performed. The graft initially performed well, and rejection was well controlled. However, the graft... (Review)
Review
Early in 2022 the first pig to human cardiac xenotransplant was performed. The graft initially performed well, and rejection was well controlled. However, the graft failed, and the patient died 60 days after the procedure. The ethical issues relating to xenotransplantation include the risk/benefit to the individual, the risk of porcine-derived infectious agents crossing into humans, animal welfare and rights, issues of human and animal identity and concerns relating to fair allocation of organs and appropriate use of resources.These ethical issues are often addressed using emotional arguments, or through consequentialist or deontological lens. An alternative is to use approaches based on virtue ethics to understand the moral purpose () of the research and the virtues (character traits) needed to be a good research clinician. In this review we will consider the virtues of justice, courage, temperance and practical wisdom, as well as the role of clinical curiosity, and their application to xenotransplantation. This provides an alternative approach for the clinical academic and others involved in the research to reflect on their practice.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Swine; Virtues; Transplantation, Heterologous; Morals; Ethical Theory; Social Justice
PubMed: 36382884
DOI: 10.1177/02676591221140767 -
The Angle Orthodontist Nov 2023
Topics: Ethical Relativism; Morals
PubMed: 37922390
DOI: 10.2319/050423-324.1 -
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Aug 2022
Topics: Attitude of Health Personnel; Humans; Morals; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 35900038
DOI: 10.1177/01410768221115275 -
Journal of Palliative Medicine Oct 2022Wisdom and intelligence work best in unison. What happens, however, when seemingly smart people fail to exercise wisdom, either in social discourse, clinical encounters,...
Wisdom and intelligence work best in unison. What happens, however, when seemingly smart people fail to exercise wisdom, either in social discourse, clinical encounters, or even within the broader political arena? This morality tale, in which Wisdom and Smart take each other on in a debate at a local bar, illustrates the fallout, when these two are not on the same page.
Topics: Bioethics; Humans; Morals
PubMed: 35776083
DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2022.0325 -
HEC Forum : An Interdisciplinary... Jun 2023In an attempt to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic, policy makers and scientific experts who advise them have aspired to present a unified front. Leveraging...
In an attempt to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic, policy makers and scientific experts who advise them have aspired to present a unified front. Leveraging the authority of science, they have at times portrayed politically favored COVID interventions, such as lockdowns, as strongly grounded in scientific evidence-even to the point of claiming that enacting such interventions is simply a matter of "following the science." Strictly speaking, all such claims are false, since facts alone never yield moral-political conclusions. More importantly, attempts to present a unified front have led to a number of other actions and statements by scientists and policy makers that erode the authority of science. These include actions and statements that: (1) mislead the public about epidemiological matters such as mortality rates, cause of death determinations, and computerized modeling, or fail to correct mainstream media sources that interpret such concepts in misleading ways; (2) incorporate moral-political opinions into ostensible statements of fact; and (3) misrepresent or misuse scientific expertise. The fundamental thesis of the paper is not primarily that such actions and statements have proliferated during the COVID-19 epidemic (though I think they have), but rather that they are unscientific and that presenting them as science undermines the authority of science. In the moral-political realm, the great power of science and the source of its authority derives from its agnosticism about fundamental moral-political claims. Science, for instance, has no built-in presumption that we should respect life, promote freedom, or practice toleration; nor does it tell us which of these values to prioritize when values conflict. Because of this agnosticism, science is recognized across a broad diversity perspectives as morally and politically impartial, and authoritative within its proper sphere. When it is infused with partisan bias, it loses that authority.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; Pandemics; Communicable Disease Control; Morals
PubMed: 34251565
DOI: 10.1007/s10730-021-09455-7