The influence of nursing home managers’ leadership on person-centred care and stress of conscience: A cross-sectional study

Background Leadership and stress are common concepts in nursing, and this study explores empirically the connection between leadership and stress of conscience in the context of aged care practice. Previous literature has shown that when staff are unable to carry out their ethical liabilities towards the residents, feelings of guilt may occur among staff, which may be an expression of stress of conscience. Although leadership has been described as crucial for staff’s work perceptions of stress as well as for person-centred practices, the influence of nursing home managers’ leadership on stress of conscience among staff and person-centred practices is still not fully explored. This study attempts to address that knowledge gap by exploring the relationship between leadership, person-centred care, and stress of conscience. Methods This study was based on a cross-sectional national survey of 2985 staff and their managers in 190 nursing homes throughout Sweden. Descriptive statistics and regression modelling were used to explore associations. Results Leadership was associated with a higher degree of person-centred care and less stress of conscience. A higher degree of person-centred care was also associated with less stress of conscience. The results also showed that leadership as well as person-centred care were individually associated with lower levels of stress of conscience when adjusting for potential confounders. Conclusion Nursing home managers’ leadership was significantly associated with less staff stress of conscience and more person-centred care. This indicates that a leadership most prominently characterised by coaching and giving feedback, relying on staff and handling conflicts constructively, experimenting with new ideas, and controlling work individually can contribute to less staff stress as well as higher degree of person-centred care provision.

Slaba vest in izgorelost medicinskih sester v enotah intenzivne nege in terapije

Uvod: Vest je večdimenzionalni koncept, zaradi katerega se medicinska sestra more zavedati manj kakovostne oskrbe bolnika in lastnih omejitev. Delovanje v nasprotju z lastno vestjo lahko vodi v izgorelost. Namen raziskave je bil prikazati povezanost bremena vesti in izgorelosti med zaposlenimi v intenzivni zdravstveni negi.Metode: Izvedena je bila presečna raziskava na priložnostnem vzorcu 46 medicinskih sester. Uporabljen je bil vprašalnik Stress of Conscience (slovensko »Slaba vest«). Vprašalnik je pokazal visoko notranjo skladnost (Cronbach α = 0,875). Podatki so bili zbrani v decembru 2017 in obdelani s programsko opremo IBM SPSS Statistics 23. Analizirani so bili z opisno in bivariatno statistiko. Uporabljeni so bili Fisherjev natančni test, T-test dveh neodvisnih vzorcev oziroma Mann-Whitneyev U-test ter enosmerna ANOVA.Rezultati: Starost in spol statistično značilno vplivata na breme vesti (p = 0,048 za starost oziroma p = 0,005 za spol). Statistično značilnih vplivov spola, starosti, trajanja zaposlitve ali izobrazbe na prisotnost števila simptomov izgorelosti raziskava ni pokazala. Z izgorelostjo je najbolj povezan (r = 0,503, p < 0,001) vpliv delovnega okolja na zasebno življenje.Diskusija in zaključek: Slaba vest je prisotna med medicinskimi sestrami v enotah intenzivne nege in terapije. Medicinskim sestram povzročajo slabo vest številni dejavniki. Raziskava je pokazala, da večje breme vesti povečuje število simptomov izgorelosti. Nadaljnje raziskovalno delo je smiselno usmeriti v zmanjševanje bremena vesti in izgorelosti.

Intensified job demands, stress of conscience and nurses' experiences during organizational change

Background: Nurses frequently face ethically demanding situations in their work, and these may lead to stress of conscience. Working life is currently accelerating and job demands are intensifying. These intensified job demands include (1) work intensification, (2) intensified job-related planning demands, (3) intensified career-related planning demands, and (4) intensified learning demands. At the same time, many healthcare organizations are implementing major organizational changes that have an influence on personnel. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between intensified job demands and stress of conscience, and whether their association is moderated by organizational change experiences among nurses. Experiences of organizational change may expose employees to stress of conscience or serve as a buffer because employees appraise, involve, and cope with changes differently. Research design: Questionnaires measuring stress of conscience, intensified job demands, and organizational change experiences were completed by nurses (n = 511) in a healthcare district undergoing a major organizational change. Ethical considerations: Throughout, the study procedures were implemented according to the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. According to the Finnish regulations, because participation was voluntary, informed consent was requested, and participants were advised of their right to withdraw from the study at will. No permission from an ethics committee was necessary. Findings: Work intensification and personal worry considering organizational change were associated with more severe stress of conscience among nurses. Nurses’ experiences of managements’ competent handling of organizational change buffered the association between work intensification and stress of conscience. Conclusions: During organizational changes, management may alleviate nurses’ stress of conscience by proper communication and support procedures.

Moral injury in healthcare professionals: A scoping review and discussion

Moral injury emerged in the healthcare discussion quite recently because of the difficulties and challenges healthcare workers and healthcare systems face in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moral injury involves a deep emotional wound and is unique to those who bear witness to intense human suffering and cruelty. This article aims to synthesise the very limited evidence from empirical studies on moral injury and to discuss a better understanding of the concept of moral injury, its importance in the healthcare context and its relation to the well-known concept of moral distress. A scoping literature review design was used to support the discussion. Systematic literature searches conducted in April 2020 in two electronic databases, PubMed/Medline and PsychInfo, produced 2044 hits but only a handful of empirical papers, from which seven well-focused articles were identified. The concept of moral injury was considered under other concepts as well such as stress of conscience, regrets for ethical situation, moral distress and ethical suffering, guilt without fault, and existential suffering with inflicting pain. Nurses had witnessed these difficult ethical situations when faced with unnecessary patient suffering and a feeling of not doing enough. Some cases of moral distress may turn into moral residue and end in moral injury with time, and in certain circumstances and contexts. The association between these concepts needs further investigation and confirmation through empirical studies; in particular, where to draw the line as to when moral distress turns into moral injury, leading to severe consequences. Given the very limited research on moral injury, discussion of moral injury in the context of the duty to care, for example, in this pandemic settings and similar situations warrants some consideration.

Exploring Leadership, Stress of Conscience, and Person-Centered Care in Nursing Homes

On a daily basis, many care situations contain difficult issues and challenges for care providers. Stress of conscience, such as feelings of guilt, can be experienced by staff when not fulfilling ethical obligations to the residents. Although leadership has been advocated as a key component for staff work perceptions as well as for person-centred care, the impact of nursing home managers’ leadership on levels of stress of conscience among staff and the extent to which person-centred care (PCC) is provided is yet to be explored. Thus, the aim was to explore the relationship between leadership, stress of conscience and PCC as perceived by staff. The study was based on a cross-sectional national survey of 3084 staff and their managers in 189 nursing homes throughout Sweden. Descriptive statistics and regression modelling were used to explore associations. The preliminary results showed that leadership was negatively associated to stress of conscience and positively associated to PCC. PCC were negatively associated to stress of conscience. Additional findings will be presented. This indicates that nursing home managers’ leadership seem to beneficially impact staff work situation in terms of stress of conscience and person-centred care provision.