The Relationship between Resilience and Moral Distress among Iranian Critical Care Nurses: A Cross-sectional Correlational Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Critical care nurses usually experience high levels of moral distress due to the nature of their work. Resilience in critical care nurses can potentially facilitate effective adaptation to physical and emotional burden of caring for critically ill patients. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between resilience and moral distress among Iranian critical care nurses.
METHODS: In this cross-sectional correlational study, 144 critical care nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) of five teaching hospitals affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, were selected randomly, from July to October 2020. Data were collected using a 36 item moral distress questionnaire and a 25-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient using SPSS 21 software.
RESULTS: The mean score of moral distress in nurses was 66.93±2.47 and 95.8% of nurses had low-level moral distress. The mean score of resilience in nurses was 90.66±10.92 and 73.6% of nurses had high levels of resilience. There was a statistically significant relationship between the scores of moral distress and resilience. Also, there was a significant positive relationship between work experience and two subscales of resilience as "trust in individual instincts, tolerance of negative emotions" and "impact of spirituality" (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicated a positive correlation between resilience and moral distress in nurses working in ICUs. It seems that when moral distress increases, critical care nurses increasingly use the mechanism of resilience for better permanence and active presence in the organization.