Moral distress in nursing students: Cultural adaptation and validation study

Abstract

Background: Moral distress, defined as moral suffering or a psychological imbalance, can affect nursing students. However, many new instruments or adaptations of other scales that are typically used to measure moral distress have not been used for nursing students. Aim: This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the Moral Distress Scale for Nursing Students (It-ESMEE) for use with delayed nursing students (students who could not graduate on time or failed the exams necessary to progress to the next level). Research design: The study used a cross-sectional research design. Participants and research context: Incidental sampling resulted in a sample of 282 delayed nursing students (mean age = 26.73 ± 4.43 years, 73% female) enrolled between May and August 2020 in a University of central Italy. Ethical considerations: The research protocol was approved by the internal review board of the university, and all participants provided their written informed consent. Results: The study confirmed a multidimensional second-order factorial structure for the It-ESMEE with five dimensions: improper institutional conditions to teach user care, authoritarian teaching practices, disrespect for the ethical dimension of vocational training, lack of competence of the teacher and commitment of ethical dimension of user care. The internal consistency was high (0.753–0.990 across the factors), and the standard error of measurement and smallest detectable change were adequate. Discussion: The It-ESMEE is able to assess moral distress in delayed nursing students with good validity and reliability. It can be used in research and to determine moral distress levels, helping teachers to monitor the condition in nursing students. Conclusion: This instrument can help in comprehending moral distress, enabling students to develop coping and intervention strategies to maintain their well-being, and to ensure the quality of nurse education.

Gendered and racial experiences of moral distress: A scoping review

“…While many studies under this theme failed to acknowledge gender and sex as important variables, one study noted the exclusion of these variables as a study limitation: “no differences across gender and age were assessed in this study. Consequently, our results should be generalised with caution in nursing students with gender and age difference” (Mazzotta et al., 2022, p. 397). Gender‐related variables such as marital status and parenthood were collected by several studies but were also not considered in analyses.…”

Moral Distress among Frontline Physicians and Nurses in the Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

“…Within the Italian context, this might also be due to the lack of context-specific instruments. Indeed, to date, several moral distress scales have been specifically designed for healthcare workers (e.g., the Moral Distress Thermometer) [ 21 ] and some measures have been targeted for specific groups of healthcare professionals (e.g., The Italian Pediatric Moral Distress Scale-Revised [ 47 ]; The Italian version of the Moral Distress Scale for Nursing Students [ 48 ]; The Italian Moral Distress Scale-Revised for critical care clinicians [ 49 ]). However, there was not yet a reliable instrument to specifically measure morally distressing situations experienced by healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Mediating role of moral resilience and professional identity in the impact of nursing interns' moral distress on compassion fatigue: a cross-sectional study

“…Nursing is a profession de ned by both stress and empathy. When nursing interns encounter moral distress during internships, they are forced to grapple with complex ethical questions that can evoke strong emotions such as anxiety, guilt, helplessness, and hopelessness [48][49][50]. This emotional stress can accumulate over time, leading to compassion fatigue [17].…”