Moral courage, burnout, professional competence, and compassion fatigue among nurses

Abstract

Background Moral courage is the ability to defend and practice ethical and moral action when faced with a challenge, even if it means rejecting pressure to act otherwise. However, moral courage remains an unexplored concept among middle eastern nurses. Aim This study investigated the mediating role of moral courage in the relationship between burnout, professional competence, and compassion fatigue among Saudi Arabian nurses. Research design Correlational, cross-sectional design following the STROBE guidelines. Participants and research context Convenience sampling was used to recruit nurses ( n = 684) for four government hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Four validated self-report questionnaires (Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale, Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and Nurses Compassion Fatigue Inventory) were used to collect data between May to September 2022. Spearman rho and structural equation modeling analyses were employed to analyze the data. Ethical considerations The ethics review committee of a government university in Ha’il region, Saudi Arabia, approval this study (Protocol no.: H-2021-012; Approved: 08/022,021). Participants were fully explained the study aims, and consent was voluntarily secured. Results The emerging model showed that burnout had a direct and positive influence on compassion fatigue, while professional competence had a direct, negative effect on compassion fatigue. Moral courage had a small and direct but negative influence on compassion fatigue. Mediation analyses also indicated that moral courage significantly mediated the indirect effects of burnout and professional competence on compassion fatigue. Conclusion Moral courage can be a crucial aspect in preserving the psychological and mental health of nurses, particularly under stressful conditions. Therefore, it is advantageous from an organizational and leadership standpoint to implement measures such as programs and interventions to foster moral courage among nurses.

Moral courage and its influencing factor among oncology specialist nurses: A multi‐centre cross‐sectional study

“…We consider that nurses with high‐level professional titles generally have more comprehensive personal abilities, richer nursing knowledge and skills, and can better deal with clinically complex situations or moral dilemmas; therefore, they would have higher moral courage. Receiving training in medical ethics was found to be a significant factor in relation to moral courage, similar to the findings of a previous study (Alshammari & Alboliteeh, 2023 ). Nurses who received training in medical ethics had a higher level of moral courage than other nurses, which is most likely explained by other nurses obtaining a more limited understanding of moral evaluations in general training, whereas training focused on moral knowledge would have quickly enabled such nurses to have become better informed.…”