Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Ethel Perry

Abstract

Abstract The spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) created a pandemic and had a world-shattering effect on healthcare organizations. As a result, many healthcare professionals were exposed to health situations that stretched them beyond their professional ethics, mental health, and emotional capacity. Throughout the last 30 years, moral distress has been understood as the type of stress that medical professionals experience. Research has substantially grown regarding COVID-19 and moral distress, exposing gaps in the ability of experts to care as they should. Moral distress was a term created to define the emotional disruption that occurs when a professional cannot work within their ethical duty due to organizational or policy constrictions but know the needed moral action. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to understand eight physicians' perceptions of moral distress during the pandemic. Jameton’s concept of moral distress was the framework for understanding physicians’ perceptions. The generic qualitative approach explored physicians’ treatment during the pandemic for this study. Interviews were conducted using semi-structured interview questions via videoconferencing (Google Meet). Braun and Clark’s thematic six-step analysis was used to analyze and code the data. The results of the eight semi-structured interviews demonstrated that moral distress was a cyclic effect. Four themes that emerged as a result of understanding the perception of moral distress during the pandemic included that the system was reactive, causing maladaptive behaviors. The research explored physicians’ perceptions while promoting positive social change by improving self-awareness to educate pandemic-related barriers or constraints professionally faced daily.

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