Open Collections

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Moral neutralization: Nurses’ evolution in unethical climate workplaces Hakimi, Hamideh; Joolaee, Soodabeh; Ashghali Farahani, Mansoureh; Rodney, Patricia; Ranjbar, Hadi

Abstract

Introduction: Good quality of care is dependent on nurses’ strong clinical skills and moral competencies, as well. While most nurses work with high moral standards, the moral performance of some nurses in some organizations shows a deterioration in their moral sensitivity and actions. The study reported in this paper aimed to explore the experiences of nurses regarding negative changes in their moral practice. Materials and methods: This was a qualitative study utilizing an inductive thematic analysis approach, which was conducted from February 2017 to September 2019. Twenty-five nurses participated in semi-structured interviews. Results: The main theme that emerged from our analysis was one of moral neutralization in the context of an unethical moral climate. We found five sub-themes, including: (1) feeling discouraged; (2) normalization; (3) giving up; (4) becoming a justifier; and (5) moral indifference. Conclusions: Unethical moral climates in health organizations can result in deterioration of morality in nurses which can harm both patients and health systems. Some unethical behaviors in nurses can be explained by this process.

Item Metadata

Title
Moral neutralization: Nurses’ evolution in unethical climate workplaces
Creator
Hakimi, Hamideh; Joolaee, Soodabeh; Ashghali Farahani, Mansoureh; Rodney, Patricia; Ranjbar, Hadi
Contributor
Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences
Publisher
BioMed Central
Date Issued
2020-11-17
Description
Introduction: Good quality of care is dependent on nurses’ strong clinical skills and moral competencies, as well. While most nurses work with high moral standards, the moral performance of some nurses in some organizations shows a deterioration in their moral sensitivity and actions. The study reported in this paper aimed to explore the experiences of nurses regarding negative changes in their moral practice. Materials and methods: This was a qualitative study utilizing an inductive thematic analysis approach, which was conducted from February 2017 to September 2019. Twenty-five nurses participated in semi-structured interviews. Results: The main theme that emerged from our analysis was one of moral neutralization in the context of an unethical moral climate. We found five sub-themes, including: (1) feeling discouraged; (2) normalization; (3) giving up; (4) becoming a justifier; and (5) moral indifference. Conclusions: Unethical moral climates in health organizations can result in deterioration of morality in nurses which can harm both patients and health systems. Some unethical behaviors in nurses can be explained by this process.
Subject
Morality; Nurses; Health care system; Ethical practice; Moral climate
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2020-11-19
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI
10.14288/1.0394999
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76546
Affiliation
Applied Science, Faculty of; Other UBC; Non UBC; Nursing, School of
Citation
BMC Medical Ethics. 2020 Nov 17;21(1):114
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s12910-020-00558-3
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Copyright Holder
The Author(s)
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

Item Media

Item Citations and Data

Rights

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)