-
PloS One 2021The Self-Importance of Moral Identity Scale (SMIS) was developed by Aquino and Reeds with the purpose of measuring how people evaluate their private (Internalization...
OBJECTIVE
The Self-Importance of Moral Identity Scale (SMIS) was developed by Aquino and Reeds with the purpose of measuring how people evaluate their private (Internalization subscale) and public (Symbolization subscale) moral identity. SMIS has become commonly and broadly used in many studies. The aim of this paper is to validate the Polish version of SMIS by analyzing its structure and relation to similar measures (such as The Moral Self-Concept Scale developed by Stake and The Moral Self-Image Scale created by Jordan, Leliveld and Tenbrunsel), declared past prosocial behaviors and readiness to donate money.
METHODS
The translation-back-translation procedure was used to maintain semantic, idiomatic, and conceptual equivalence of the original scale. Throughout four separate studies the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the scale were assessed: Study 1 (N = 529) was carried out to derive the factor structure using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and cross-validate it; Study 2 (N = 602) and Study 3 (N = 899) were performed to confirm and replicate the structure with the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); gender-balanced Study 4 (N = 862) was conducted to assess measurement invariance over gender using multigroup CFA, and to normalize the scale. Validity of the scale was assessed based on each study.
RESULTS
A stable two-factor structure using 10 items was replicated in four different samples. The results showed that reliability (α) was between 0.71 and 0.81 for Internalization, and 0.76 and 0.81 for Symbolization. Validity was confirmed in terms of the expected pattern of correlations with morality measures and factorial structure. Metric invariance across gender was confirmed with possible exception of factor loadings on two items regarding communication of values. Polish normalization for men and women was constructed.
CONCLUSIONS
Polish validation of SMIS proved to be a structurally consistent and valid measure.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Morals; Poland; Psychometrics; Self Concept; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
PubMed: 34343183
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255386 -
Nursing Outlook 2020
Topics: Anger; COVID-19; Coronavirus Infections; Ethics, Clinical; Health Care Rationing; Humans; Morals; Nurse Clinicians; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Social Justice; United States
PubMed: 32807529
DOI: 10.1016/j.outlook.2020.07.006 -
New Directions For Child and Adolescent... Nov 2022This study coordinates moral value development in adolescence, parenting style, and gender with issues of stability and specificity. The primary research question asked...
This study coordinates moral value development in adolescence, parenting style, and gender with issues of stability and specificity. The primary research question asked whether parenting styles of mothers and fathers influence the development of adolescent moral values, and secondary research questions asked whether adolescent moral values were stable and whether gender moderated predictive relations of parenting styles and adolescent moral values. At 14 and 18 years, a sample of 246 adolescents completed the Sociomoral Reflection Objective Measure - Short Form; at 14 years, mothers and fathers self-reported their parenting styles using the Parental Authority Questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses established a 2-factor model of adolescent moral values across the two ages: Life and Social Contract captured prosocial aspects of morality that are left to individual choice, and Law and Social Order captured acts that are legally or morally obligatory for individuals to perform. Structural equation modeling investigated relations between parental parenting styles and the two adolescent moral value factors, with adolescent age, gender, and family SES as covariates. Both moral values factors had high stabilities across the 4-year period. Mothers' authoritarian parenting at 14 years, but not their authoritative or permissive parenting, negatively predicted Life and Social Contract moral values, but not Law and Social Order, in adolescents at 18 years, more so for boys. Fathers' parenting styles did not predict adolescents' moral values at 18 years. Girls and adolescents from higher-SES families had higher Life and Social Contract moral values at 14 years; boys experienced more increases in Life and Social Contract moral values from 14 to 18 years than girls. Stability and parental predictive validity of moral values for adolescence are discussed.
Topics: Male; Female; Adolescent; Humans; Parenting; Mothers; Parents; Morals; Fathers; Parent-Child Relations
PubMed: 36314351
DOI: 10.1002/cad.20488 -
Science and Engineering Ethics Dec 2020The crash of two 737 MAX passenger aircraft in late 2018 and early 2019, and subsequent grounding of the entire fleet of 737 MAX jets, turned a global spotlight on...
The crash of two 737 MAX passenger aircraft in late 2018 and early 2019, and subsequent grounding of the entire fleet of 737 MAX jets, turned a global spotlight on Boeing's practices and culture. Explanations for the crashes include: design flaws within the MAX's new flight control software system designed to prevent stalls; internal pressure to keep pace with Boeing's chief competitor, Airbus; Boeing's lack of transparency about the new software; and the lack of adequate monitoring of Boeing by the FAA, especially during the certification of the MAX and following the first crash. While these and other factors have been the subject of numerous government reports and investigative journalism articles, little to date has been written on the ethical significance of the accidents, in particular the ethical responsibilities of the engineers at Boeing and the FAA involved in designing and certifying the MAX. Lessons learned from this case include the need to strengthen the voice of engineers within large organizations. There is also the need for greater involvement of professional engineering societies in ethics-related activities and for broader focus on moral courage in engineering ethics education.
Topics: Aircraft; Engineering; Ethics, Professional; Morals; Writing
PubMed: 32651773
DOI: 10.1007/s11948-020-00252-y -
Perspectives on Psychological Science :... Jan 2022Observed variability and complexity of judgments of "right" and "wrong" cannot be readily accounted for within extant approaches to understanding moral judgment. In...
Observed variability and complexity of judgments of "right" and "wrong" cannot be readily accounted for within extant approaches to understanding moral judgment. In response to this challenge, we present a novel perspective on categorization in moral judgment. Moral judgment as categorization (MJAC) incorporates principles of category formation research while addressing key challenges of existing approaches to moral judgment. People develop skills in making context-relevant categorizations. They learn that various objects (events, behaviors, people, etc.) can be categorized as morally right or wrong. Repetition and rehearsal result in reliable, habitualized categorizations. According to this skill-formation account of moral categorization, the learning and the habitualization of the forming of moral categories occur within goal-directed activity that is sensitive to various contextual influences. By allowing for the complexity of moral judgments, MJAC offers greater explanatory power than existing approaches while also providing opportunities for a diverse range of new research questions.
Topics: Humans; Judgment; Learning; Morals
PubMed: 34264152
DOI: 10.1177/1745691621990636 -
BMJ Global Health May 2021Although medical products that are of sound quality are fundamental to the delivery of healthcare, so too is their availability, affordability, accessibility and... (Review)
Review
Although medical products that are of sound quality are fundamental to the delivery of healthcare, so too is their availability, affordability, accessibility and acceptability. However, achieving all of these aims consistently and simultaneously may be unfeasible due to a host of barriers-no matter the country. If uncertainty, constraints and conflicting priorities also threaten their delivery, not only does the situation becomes yet more challenging, the morally just course of action becomes yet more opaque. While global health organisations, supply chains and projects are heterogenous, international non-governmental organisations (iNGOs) responding to humanitarian crises or delivering development assistance in low-income and middle-income countries are undoubtedly prone to this issue. In a novel framing of the problem of substandard and falsified medicines, this article explores some ethical dilemmas that, directly or indirectly, could result in the quality of medical products in iNGO health projects to be compromised. Drawing on a broad literature base and years of experience as a senior humanitarian pharmacist, the author reflects on the barriers, culture and system that contributes to the existence and persistence of substandard and falsified medical products in global assistance projects. The paper offers an in-depth examination of pressures that may arise in four key areas (capacity, supply chain, bureaucracy and quality assurance) and postulates on the myriad ways in which this may alter the attitudes, behaviours and decision-making of iNGOs in a manner that disincentivises the prioritisation of medical product quality. This paper does not seek to excoriate the aid sector, but rather to lend a new perspective: that such predicaments are overlooked, real-world ethical dilemmas in urgent need of greater openness, research, debate and guidance, for the benefit of moral decision-making and patient care.
Topics: Delivery of Health Care; Global Health; Humans; Income; Morals; Poverty
PubMed: 34049937
DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004339 -
Nursing Ethics Aug 2022Since the beginning of the pandemic spread of the Coronavirus, societies have been reminded that the impact of Covid-19 and public health measures of infection...
Since the beginning of the pandemic spread of the Coronavirus, societies have been reminded that the impact of Covid-19 and public health measures of infection containment reflect known gradients of inequality. Measures focusing only the (acknowledged) frontstage of the pandemic and neglecting its (unacknowledged) backstage-understood as those framework conditions indispensable for societies to thrive-have worsened the impact of social determinants of health on the most vulnerable, as shown by the deleterious effects of prolonged social isolation of residents of nursing homes. To reflect this phenomenon ethically, a framework is proposed which is inspired by the feminist philosopher Margret Little. At its core stands the assumption that caring for people and moral ends allows us to identify what is morally salient. This epistemological stance allows a critical look at the alleged dilemmas invoked to enforce brute, long-lasting policies of closing nursing homes in many places-especially in the light of their dubious effectiveness in preventing viral spread and the severe physical and psychological consequences for those affected. If moral salience is only fully perceived through the closeness of the caring relationship, the human suffering resulting from these policies reveals the utter inadequacy of the dilemma rhetoric used to justify them. This insight is illustrated by the personal experience of the author: He describes his role as an essential care partner of his mother living in a nursing home and forced into the role of a "visitor" who witnessed a constant deterioration of care. Based on an epistemological understanding of caring for making reliable moral judgments, potentially exclusionary effects of distinguishing essential from non-essential groups in care will be addressed together with the need to overcome strict boundaries between front- and backstage. Such efforts will strengthen the moral community of persons needing care, professional care givers and essential care partners.
Topics: COVID-19; Caregivers; Humans; Male; Morals; Nursing Homes; Pandemics
PubMed: 35950968
DOI: 10.1177/09697330221113061 -
Physical Therapy Jun 2022The purpose of this study was to explore lived experiences of rehabilitation professionals working in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the ethical...
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to explore lived experiences of rehabilitation professionals working in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the ethical issues and moral distress that these professionals might have encountered.
METHODS
An interpretative phenomenological study was performed. First-person experiences of rehabilitation professionals (dieticians, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language therapists) were collected with semi-structured interviews and analyzed with interpretative phenomenological analysis.
RESULTS
The data of 39 hospital-based rehabilitation professionals revealed 4 themes: a disease with great impact, personal health and safety, staying human in chaotic times, and solidarity and changing roles. Participant experiences show that the virus and COVID-19 measures had a significant impact on the in-hospital working environment due to the massive downscaling of regular care, due to infection prevention measures, and due to unknown risks to rehabilitation professionals' personal health. At the same time, participants experienced a certain freedom, which made room for authentic motives, connection, and solidarity. Participants felt welcomed and appreciated at the COVID-19 wards and intensive care units and were proud that they were able to fulfill their roles. The findings reflect a wide range of situations that were morally complex and led to moral distress.
CONCLUSION
To diminish the long-lasting negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and moral distress, employers should empathize with the experiences of hospital-based rehabilitation professionals and create conditions for ethical reflection. Our data show that hospital-based rehabilitation professionals value professional autonomy. Creating room for professional autonomy helps them feel needed, connected, and energized. However, the needs of hospital-based rehabilitation professionals may conflict with organizational rules and structures.
IMPACT
Hospital-based rehabilitation professionals were involved in situations they considered morally undesirable, and they inevitably faced moral distress during the COVID-19 crisis. This study offers rationale and guidance to employers regarding how to reduce the long-term negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rehabilitation professionals.
Topics: Allied Health Personnel; COVID-19; Hospitals; Humans; Morals; Pandemics
PubMed: 35512349
DOI: 10.1093/ptj/pzac052 -
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin Mar 2024Helping acts, however well intended and beneficial, sometimes involve immoral means or immoral helpers. Here, we explore whether help recipients consider moral...
Helping acts, however well intended and beneficial, sometimes involve immoral means or immoral helpers. Here, we explore whether help recipients consider moral evaluations in their appraisals of gratitude, a possibility that has been neglected by existing accounts of gratitude. Participants felt less grateful and more uneasy when offered immoral help (Study 1, = 150), and when offered morally neutral help by an immoral helper (Study 2, = 172). In response to immoral help or helpers, participants were less likely to accept the help and less willing to strengthen their relationship with the helper even when they accepted it. Study 3 ( = 276) showed that recipients who felt grateful when offered immoral help were perceived as less likable, less moral, and less suitable as close relationship partners than those who felt uneasy by observers. Our results demonstrate that gratitude is morally sensitive and suggest this might be socially adaptive.
Topics: Humans; Emotions; Morals
PubMed: 35532002
DOI: 10.1177/01461672221092273 -
Journal of Athletic Training Jun 2023
Topics: Humans; Professionalism; Morals; Sports
PubMed: 37659067
DOI: 10.4085/1062-6050-0039.22