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Understanding Moral Distress among Eldercare Workers: A Scoping Review

The aging of the population in Western countries will increase the use of social and health services in the future. Employees in eldercare are at risk for experiencing moral distress, which is associated with poor work ability. The causes and consequences of moral distress among eldercare workers re...

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Autores principales: Nikunlaakso, Risto, Selander, Kirsikka, Weiste, Elina, Korkiakangas, Eveliina, Paavolainen, Maria, Koivisto, Tiina, Laitinen, Jaana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9368675/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35954662
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159303
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author Nikunlaakso, Risto
Selander, Kirsikka
Weiste, Elina
Korkiakangas, Eveliina
Paavolainen, Maria
Koivisto, Tiina
Laitinen, Jaana
author_facet Nikunlaakso, Risto
Selander, Kirsikka
Weiste, Elina
Korkiakangas, Eveliina
Paavolainen, Maria
Koivisto, Tiina
Laitinen, Jaana
author_sort Nikunlaakso, Risto
collection PubMed
description The aging of the population in Western countries will increase the use of social and health services in the future. Employees in eldercare are at risk for experiencing moral distress, which is associated with poor work ability. The causes and consequences of moral distress among eldercare workers remain undiscovered. This scoping review investigates the existing studies of causes and consequences of moral distress among eldercare workers. Additionally, it seeks evidence of interventions designed to mitigate moral distress in eldercare workers. Fourteen studies were included in the final review. Most of the included studies were qualitative, aiming to increase understanding of morally challenging situations in eldercare. We also found quantitative studies with cross-sectional designs and small sample sizes. Thus, no reliable evidence of causal effects between moral distress and worker wellbeing in eldercare was found. We found no interventions undertaken to resolve moral distress among eldercare workers, either. More research is needed on the causes and consequences of moral distress and on interventions to mitigate moral distress among eldercare workers. This is of utmost importance to increase the attractiveness of eldercare as a workplace and to improve eldercare workers’ ability to work and sustain long working careers.
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spelling pubmed-93686752022-08-12 Understanding Moral Distress among Eldercare Workers: A Scoping Review Nikunlaakso, Risto Selander, Kirsikka Weiste, Elina Korkiakangas, Eveliina Paavolainen, Maria Koivisto, Tiina Laitinen, Jaana Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The aging of the population in Western countries will increase the use of social and health services in the future. Employees in eldercare are at risk for experiencing moral distress, which is associated with poor work ability. The causes and consequences of moral distress among eldercare workers remain undiscovered. This scoping review investigates the existing studies of causes and consequences of moral distress among eldercare workers. Additionally, it seeks evidence of interventions designed to mitigate moral distress in eldercare workers. Fourteen studies were included in the final review. Most of the included studies were qualitative, aiming to increase understanding of morally challenging situations in eldercare. We also found quantitative studies with cross-sectional designs and small sample sizes. Thus, no reliable evidence of causal effects between moral distress and worker wellbeing in eldercare was found. We found no interventions undertaken to resolve moral distress among eldercare workers, either. More research is needed on the causes and consequences of moral distress and on interventions to mitigate moral distress among eldercare workers. This is of utmost importance to increase the attractiveness of eldercare as a workplace and to improve eldercare workers’ ability to work and sustain long working careers. MDPI 2022-07-29 /pmc/articles/PMC9368675/ /pubmed/35954662 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159303 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Nikunlaakso, Risto
Selander, Kirsikka
Weiste, Elina
Korkiakangas, Eveliina
Paavolainen, Maria
Koivisto, Tiina
Laitinen, Jaana
Understanding Moral Distress among Eldercare Workers: A Scoping Review
title Understanding Moral Distress among Eldercare Workers: A Scoping Review
title_full Understanding Moral Distress among Eldercare Workers: A Scoping Review
title_fullStr Understanding Moral Distress among Eldercare Workers: A Scoping Review
title_full_unstemmed Understanding Moral Distress among Eldercare Workers: A Scoping Review
title_short Understanding Moral Distress among Eldercare Workers: A Scoping Review
title_sort understanding moral distress among eldercare workers: a scoping review
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9368675/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35954662
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159303
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