Injury from acting against, or being betrayed by, deeply held moral commitments.
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176 to 200 of 485Ethical challenges faced by healthcare workers in pediatric oncology care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
Objective: This qualitative study examined ethical challenges reported by healthcare professionals (HCPs) working in a large Australian pediatric oncology center during a period of strict COVID-19 restrictions.
Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 HCPs who provided pediatric cancer care during the pandemic in 2020, during strict lockdown periods. Interviews examined the difficulties they faced, as well as their own ethical evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 policies on oncology care. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis and thematic analysis.
Results: HCPs faced several challenges, primarily originating from hospital restrictions, which led to changes in usual clinical practices. These challenges included delivering care with personal protective equipment (PPE), the impact of a one-parent visitation policy, changes in psychosocial and allied health se…
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Nguyen B, Torres A, Espinola CW, Sim W, Kenny D, Campbell DM, Lou W, Kapralos B, Beavers L, Peter E, Dubrowski A, Krishnan S, Bhat V (2023)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usComputer methods and programs in biomedicine3 citations Development of a data-driven digital phenotype profile of distress experience of healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic.
Background and objective: Due to the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers have reported acting in ways that are contrary to their moral values, and this may result in moral distress. This paper proposes the novel digital phenotype profile (DPP) tool, developed specifically to evaluate stress experiences within participants. The DPP tool was evaluated using the COVID-19 VR Healthcare Simulation of Stress Experience (HSSE) dataset (NCT05001542), which is composed of passive physiological signals and active mental health questionnaires. The DPP tool focuses on correlating electrocardiogram, respiration, photoplethysmography, and galvanic skin response with moral injury outcome scale (Brief MIOS).
Methods: Data-driven techniques are encompassed to develop a tool for robust evaluation of distress among participants. To accomplish this, we applied pre-processing techniques …
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Morally Distressing Experiences, Moral Injury, and Burnout in Florida Healthcare Providers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Because healthcare providers may be experiencing moral injury (MI), we inquired about their healthcare morally distressing experiences (HMDEs), MI perpetrated by self (Self MI) or others (Others MI), and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 265 healthcare providers in North Central Florida (81.9% female, Mage = 37.62) recruited via flyers and emailed brochures that completed online surveys monthly for four months. Logistic regression analyses investigated whether MI was associated with specific HMDEs, risk factors (demographic characteristics, prior mental/medical health adversity, COVID-19 protection concern, health worry, and work impact), protective factors (personal resilience and leadership support), and psychiatric symptomatology (depression, anxiety, and PTSD). Linear regression analyses explored how Self/Others MI, psychiatric symptomatology, and the risk/prote…
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What should be done to support the mental health of healthcare staff treating COVID-19 patients?
There is an urgent need to provide evidence-based well-being and mental health support for front-line clinical staff managing the COVID-19 pandemic who are at risk of moral injury and mental illness. We describe the evidence base for a tiered model of care, and practical steps on its implementation.
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Bringing Light into the Dark: Moral Injury and Exploring the Impact of Eliciting Moral Elevation on the Daily Experiences of U.S. Veterans.
Moral elevation is described as feeling inspired after witnessing someone engage in virtuous behavior, whereas moral injury is the result of internal conflict that stems from exposure to morally injurious experiences. Building on previous work that used moral elevation to benefit veterans, this study explored the relationship between eliciting elevation, daily motives, and affective experiences for veterans with moral injury-related distress. Using an ABA experimental design, veterans (final n = 22) first completed 4 daily surveys that only included brief daily measures (A), followed by 4 days of measures combined with a daily elevation-eliciting exercise (B), then 4 daily surveys with measures only again (A). On days 5-8, elevation was elicited by presenting short video clips featuring moral exemplars performing virtuous acts, consistent with previous work. Using linear mixed effects mo…
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Trends and Thematic Clusters in Moral Injury Research: A Bibliometric Analysis.
Moral injury (MI) spans biological, psychological, social, and spiritual domains, yet systematic bibliometric evaluation remains scarce. A bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed publications containing "moral injury" (1992-2025) was conducted using three search strategies (i) Title-Abstract-Keywords (TAK), (ii) Abstract-only (AO), and (iii) Title-only (TO). Publication types, annual trends, and the performance of authors, institutions, countries, sponsors, and journals were examined. A total of 2,081 documents were identified, including articles (1,491), reviews (164), book chapters (193), and editorials (75). TAK yielded 1,655 records, AO 1,400 records, and TO 879 records, demonstrating notable variation in dataset size. Output remained limited until 2017, followed by rapid growth from 2018, peaking in 2025. The USA led global production, followed by the UK, Canada, and Australia. TAK …
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Hawkins MP (2026)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usJournal of religion and health1 citations Moral Injury in Elite Sport: Trauma in the Failure of the Athlete's Quest.
This article considers whether the trauma syndrome moral injury, as developed within the military context, is applicable to elite sport and to sport's wellbeing and integrity discourse. In the face of mounting wellbeing and integrity problems faced within elite sport, the literature examining the wellbeing and integrity of sport, is calling for a multidisciplinary response that considers the moral and ethical frameworks within elite sports' institutions. Moral injury presents as such a response. Examined is the growing use of moral injury in the civilian context and specifically amongst healthcare workers. Drawing together this work, moral injury is posited as applicable to elite sport though contextually contingent. As has been summarised within the military context for potentially morally injurious events, there is often the taking of life, whereas in the medical context it is in the f…
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The impact of moral injury on suicide risk among recently discharged Israeli veterans: A longitudinal moderated mediation model of trauma-related guilt and self-forgiveness.
Background: Exposure to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) during military service has been associated with heightened trauma-related guilt levels, which in turn, could increase suicide risk among combat veterans. However, no longitudinal study has established temporal associations between these variables while examining a Moderated mediation model with self-forgiveness as a possible moderator of the PMIEs-suicide risk links during the first year following discharge.
Method: Participants were 374 active-duty Israeli combatants who participated in a 5-year longitudinal study with three measurement points: 1 month before discharge from army service (T1), then 6 months (T2), and 12 months (T3) following their discharge. Data were assessed through semistructured interviews and validated self-report questionnaires.
Results: All PMIE dimensions at T1 were negatively associated with s…
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McDaniel JT (2025)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usBMJ military health2 citations Moral injury and quality of life among military veterans.
Introduction: Moral injury concerns transgressive harms and the outcomes that such experiences may cause. A gap in the literature surrounding moral injury, and an outcome that may be important to include in the mounting evidence toward the need for the formal clinical acknowledgement of moral injury, has to do with the relationship between moral injury and quality of life. No studies have examined this relationship in US military veterans-a population that is disproportionately exposed to potentially morally injurious events.
Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted yielding 1495 military veterans. Participants were asked questions about moral injury and quality of life, among other things. Multivariable linear regression was used to characterise the adjusted relationship between moral injury and quality of life.
Results: Moral injury (mean=40.1 out of 98) and quality-o…
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Moral injury among women military veterans and demand for cigarettes: A behavioral economic investigation using a hypothetical purchase task.
Objectives: Unlike the United States general population, veteran women - as opposed to veteran men - have greater smoking prevalence; yet, little is known regarding factors that influence smoking in veteran women. The purpose of this study was to begin examining the relationship between a psychological concept known as moral injury and demand for cigarettes among veteran women.
Methods: Veteran women who smoke (n = 44) were recruited for this cross-sectional study from Amazon MTurk, Reddit, and a veteran-serving non-profit organization in June-July 2023. Consenting participants received $2 for completing the cigarette purchase task (CPT), Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and the military version of the Moral Injury Symptom Scale (MISS-M-SF). We examined five CPT demand indices and calculated a modified exponential demand model stratified by moral injury severity status (i.…
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Moral injury in post-9/11 combat-experienced military veterans: A qualitative thematic analysis.
War zone exposure is associated with enduring negative mental health effects and poorer responses to treatment, in part because this type of trauma can entail crises of conscience or moral injury. Although a great deal of attention has been paid to posttraumatic stress disorder and fear-based physiological aspects of trauma and suffering, comparatively less attention has been given to the morally injurious dimension of trauma. Robust themes of moral injury were identified in interviews with 26 post-9/11 military veterans. Thematic analysis identified 12 themes that were subsumed under four categories reflecting changes, shifts, or ruptures in worldview, meaning making, identity, and relationships. Moral injury is a unique and challenging clinical construct with impacts on the individual as well as at every level of the social ecological system. Recommendations are offered for addressing …
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The impact of moral injury on trajectories of depression: a five-year longitudinal study among recently discharged Israeli veterans.
Background: Perpetrating or witnessing acts that violate one's moral code are frequent among military personnel and active combatants. These events, termed potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs), were found to be associated with an increased risk of depression, in cross-sectional studies. However, the longitudinal contribution of PMIEs to depression among combatants remains unclear.
Method: Participants were 374 active-duty combatants who participated in a longitudinal study with four measurement points: T1-one year before enlistment, T2-at discharge from army service, and then again 6- and 12-months following discharge (T3 and T4, respectively). At T1, personal characteristics assessed through semi-structured interviews. At T2-T4, PMIEs and depressive symptoms were assessed.
Results: At discharge (T2), a total of 48.7% of combatants reported experiencing PMIEs incident, compared w…
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Measuring civilian moral injury: Adaptation and validation of the Moral Injury Events Scale (Civilian) and Expressions of Moral Injury Scale (Civilian).
Objective: Moral injury (MI) research has been expanded to populations beyond the military in recent years. A key barrier to further research into MI in civilian populations is the lack of valid, reliable measures of the construct appropriate for general civilian use. This article addresses this barrier by adapting two existing military measures and exploring their psychometrics in a general civilian sample: the Moral Injury Events Scale-Civilian (MIES-C) and Expressions of Moral Injury Scale-Military (EMIS-C).
Method: A sample of civilian women (n = 192) and men (n = 88) completed the above measures, and additional scales designed to capture theoretically supported primary and secondary markers of MI (guilt, shame, anger; depression, posttraumatic stress symptoms, anxiety).
Results: Confirmatory factor analyses found that the factor structure of the MIES-C and EMIS-C replicated well wit…
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Weissinger GM, Swavely D, Holtz H, Brewer KC, Alderfer M, Lynn L, Yoder A, Adil T, Wasser T, Cifra D, Rushton C (2024)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usAmerican journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses14 citations Critical Care Nurses' Moral Resilience, Moral Injury, Institutional Betrayal, and Traumatic Stress After COVID-19.
Background: Traumatic stress and moral injury may contribute to burnout, but their relationship to institutional betrayal and moral resilience is poorly understood, leaving risk and protective factors understudied.
Objectives: To examine traumatic stress symptoms, moral injury symptoms, moral resilience, and institutional betrayal experienced by critical care nurses and examine how moral injury and traumatic stress symptoms relate to moral resilience, institutional betrayal, and patient-related burnout.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included 121 critical care nurses and used an online survey. Validated instruments were used to measure key variables. Descriptive statistics, regression analyses, and group t tests were used to examine relationships among variables.
Results: Of participating nurses, 71.5% reported significant moral injury symptoms and/or traumatic stress. Both moral in…
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Examining the outcomes and acceptability of a peer-led spiritual intervention for moral injury in a veteran service organization.
The purpose of this proof-of-concept study was to examine the outcomes and acceptability of a spiritual intervention for moral injury led by veteran peers in a Veteran Service Organization (VSO), called "Heroes to Heroes." From baseline to 1-year follow-up, 101 veterans who participated in the intervention completed the evaluation surveys at four time points assessing psychological outcomes (moral injury, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms, and life satisfaction), spiritual outcomes (spiritual struggles and spiritual transcendence), and their perceived helpfulness of the program. In addition, we conducted four focus groups with six to eight alumni to more fully understand veterans' views and experiences of the program. Focusing on the longitudinal surveys, latent growth modeling analyses revealed veterans generally improved across the psychological and spiritual outcomes in th…
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Biopsychosocial Correlates and Individual Differences for Eliciting Moral Elevation in Veterans With PTSD: An Experimental Case Series.
A promising approach to enhancing trauma-focused treatment is moral elevation-feeling inspired by witnessing a virtuous act. This study explored potential links between eliciting elevation and relevant outcomes in a series of case examples. Veterans with probable posttraumatic stress disorder completed experimental tasks including a written trauma narrative exercise and watching elevation-eliciting videos. Participants also completed baseline assessments, repeated measures of trauma-related cognitions, emotions, elevation, and saliva sample collection. Four cases were identified and reviewed: two positive responders (high elevation after videos) and two nonresponders (restricted elevation response). Positive responder cases reported decreased cognitions, emotions, and moral injury distress from after the trauma narrative to after elevation exercises, whereas nonresponders reported minima…
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Trajectories of moral injury and their associations with posttraumatic stress symptoms among recently discharged israeli veterans.
Background: While it is already known that potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) have a deleterious effect on veterans, little is known about the changes in PMIEs subjective appraisals over time, as well as its contribution to changes in psychiatric symptoms. In the current study, we longitudinally assessed subjective appraisals of PMIEs experienced during combat military service and their associations with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among recently discharged combat veterans.
Method: Participants were 374 veterans who participated in a one-year longitudinal study with three measurement points: T1-one month before discharge from army service, and then again six months and twelve months following discharge (T2 and T3, respectively).
Results: Latent Growth Mixture Modeling (LGMM) indicated heterogenic patterns of changes in PMIEs across measurements. The 'resilient' (low an…
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Veterans' experiences of moral injury, treatment and recommendations for future support.
Introduction: Moral injury (MI) significantly impacts the lives of many UK military veterans however, there is a lack of manualised treatment to address the needs of this population. To develop future treatments that are acceptable and well tolerated, veterans should be consulted on their experiences of existing psychological treatments and suggestions for future treatments.
Methods: 10 UK military veterans were interviewed about their experiences of receiving treatment for psychological difficulties after MI, and beliefs about core components of future treatments. Thematic analysis of these interviews were conducted.
Results: 2 superordinate themes were identified: experiences of previous mental health treatment and perceptions of the proposed treatments. Reflections on cognitive behavioural therapy were mixed, with some describing that it did not ameliorate their guilt or shame. In fut…
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War trauma impacts in Ukrainian combat and civilian populations: Moral injury and associated mental health symptoms.
This is the first study to compare active-duty soldiers and student civilian samples during the first three months of the Ukrainian-Russian war in relation to moral injury and its association with PTSD, anxiety and depression. A total of 350 participants, including 191 active-duty soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Force (UAF), who were on the frontline during the full-scale invasion of Russian troops in February 2022, and 159 students from different HEIs in Volyn oblast, were recruited into the study through their attendance at the Ukrainian Psychotrauma Center. Prior to the in-person group-intervention program of psychosocial support for military and civil populations at the Ukrainian Psychotrauma Center, moral injury, PTSD, depression, and anxiety were assessed. Results showed significantly higher moral injury, PTSD, depression, and anxiety scores in civilian students, with a two-way ANO…
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Repairing moral injury takes a team: what clinicians can learn from combat veterans.
Moral injury results from the violation of deeply held moral commitments leading to emotional and existential distress. The phenomenon was initially described by psychologists and psychiatrists associated with the US Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs but has since been applied more broadly. Although its application to healthcare preceded COVID-19, healthcare professionals have taken greater interest in moral injury since the pandemic's advent. They have much to learn from combat veterans, who have substantial experience in identifying and addressing moral injury-particularly its social dimensions. Veterans recognise that complex social factors lead to moral injury, and therefore a community approach is necessary for healing. We argue that similar attention must be given in healthcare, where a team-oriented and multidimensional approach is essential both for ameliorating the suf…
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Fleming WH (2023)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usJournal of religion and health6 citations The Moral Injury Experience Wheel: An Instrument for Identifying Moral Emotions and Conceptualizing the Mechanisms of Moral Injury.
This paper introduces an infographic tool called The Moral Injury Experience Wheel, designed to help users accurately label moral emotions and conceptualize the mechanisms of moral injury (MI). Feeling wheels have been used by therapists and clinical chaplains to increase emotional literacy since the 1980s. The literature on the skill of emotion differentiation shows a causal relationship between identifying emotions with specificity and emotional and behavioral regulation. Emerging research in moral psychology indicates that differentiating moral emotions with precision is related to similar regulatory effects. Based on this evidence, it is proposed that increasing moral emotional awareness through use of an instrument that visually depicts moral emotions and their causal links to MI will enhance appraisal and flexible thinking skills recognized to reduce the persistent dissonance and m…
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Pastoral Narrative Disclosure: The Development and Evaluation of an Australian Chaplaincy Intervention Strategy for Addressing Moral Injury.
This paper describes the development and initial chaplaincy user evaluation of 'Pastoral Narrative Disclosure' (PND) as a rehabilitation strategy developed for chaplains to address moral injury among veterans. PND is an empirically informed and integrated intervention comprising eight stages of pastoral counselling, guidance and education that was developed by combining two previously existing therapeutic techniques, namely Litz et al's (2017) 'Adaptive Disclosure' and 'Confessional Practice' (Joob & Kettunen, 2013). The development and results of PND can be categorized into five phases. Phase 1: PND Strategy Formation-based upon extensive international research demonstrating that MI is a complex bio-psycho-social-spiritual syndrome with symptoms sufficiently distinct from post-traumatic stress disorder. The review also provided evidence of the importance of chaplains being involved in m…
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The shaping of moral injury among UK military veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Objective: Research on 'moral injury'-the psychological wound experienced by military personnel and other 'functionaries' whose moral values are violated-has proliferated in recent years. Many psychological researchers, including those in the UK, have subscribed to an increasingly individualised operationalisation of moral injury, with medicalised criteria that closely mirrors PTSD. This trend carries assumptions that have not been comprehensively verified by empirical research. This study aims to explore UK military veterans' experiences of, and challenges to, their moral values in relation to their deployment experiences, without prematurely foreclosing exploration of wider systemic influences.
Method: Twelve UK military veterans who served in Afghanistan and/or Iraq were interviewed, and the data were analysed thematically and reflexively.
Results: Three inter-related themes were gene…
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Zerach G, Levi-Belz Y (2023)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usStress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress10 citations Exposure to potentially morally injurious events, disruption in assumptive world, moral injury symptoms, and psychological distress among Israeli female veterans.
Exposure to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) during military service is associated with mental health problems. However, knowledge about these associations and possible mechanisms of effect among female combat veterans is sparse. This study examines associations between PMIEs, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms among female veterans, as well as the mediating role of disruption in assumptive world and moral injury (MI) symptoms. A volunteer sample of Israeli female combat veterans (n = 885) and non-combat veterans (n = 728) responded to self-report questionnaires in a cross-sectional design study. Results show that combat veterans reported higher levels of PMIEs, PTSD and MI symptoms, but not CPTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms, as compared to non-combat veterans. Importantly, PMIEs was indirectly associated with PTSD, comple…
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Testoni I, Brondolo E, Ronconi L, Petrini F, Navalesi P, Antonellini M, Biancalani G, Crupi R, Capozza D (2023)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usPsychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy17 citations Burnout following moral injury and dehumanization: A study of distress among Italian medical staff during the first COVID-19 pandemic period.
Background: Italy was the first country outside Asia to deal with the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and health care facilities and medical staff were not fully prepared. Research worldwide has documented the enormous effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care providers' mental health, including experiences of dehumanization, but less work has focused on factors which may influence the development of these outcomes in response to COVID-19-related stress.
Objective: This study examined the association of dehumanization, self-efficacy, and alienation to burnout, depression, and PTSD among medical staff. Potential moderators included moral injury, professional role, COVID workload, and work in a critical care unit (CCU).
Method: Participants were recruited through the Internet. The sample consisted of 270 medical staff members who completed a self-report survey online. Instrument…
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