Analysis on the current situation and influencing factors of moral injury among physicians
10.12026/j.issn.1001-8565.2025.11.13
- VernacularTitle:临床医生道德创伤现状及影响因素分析
- Author:
Rongqing SHAO
1
;
Yu WANG
1
Author Information
1. School of Humanities and Social Sciences， Harbin Medical University， Harbin 150081， China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
moral injury;
physicians;
medical professionalism;
well-being
- From:
Chinese Medical Ethics
2025;38(11):1467-1475
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
ObjectiveTo investigate the current situation and influencing factors of moral injury among physicians in China， and to analyze the relationship between moral injury and medical professionalism， providing a reference for preventing and treating moral injury and protecting physicians’ physical and mental well-being. MethodsFrom September to October 2023， the convenience sampling method was used to conduct a questionnaire survey on practicing physicians， interns， or resident physicians in hospitals at all levels in Heilongjiang Province， Guangdong Province， Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， and Beijing. ResultsA total of 421 practicing physicians， interns， or resident physicians were included. The total score of the Moral Injury Symptom Scale for Healthcare Professionals was （42.07 ± 13.67）， of which 31.6% of the respondents had significant clinical distress and functional impairment related to moral injury， with the highest mean score for the dimension “unforgiveness.” Correlation analysis revealed that the total score of medical professionalism， as well as the scores of each dimension， were significantly negatively correlated with the total score of the Moral Injury Symptom Scale. Linear regression analysis showed that job satisfaction， medical professionalism， whether they felt a low level of organizational support in the handling of doctor-patient disputes， whether they had witnessed patients’ suffering or dying， gender， whether they had worked overtime， and whether they had needed professional help in relieving psychological stress were influencing factors of physicians’ moral injury. ConclusionThe physicians’ moral injury in China is at a medium level overall. Physicians’ moral injury is affected by numerous factors， with a significant negative correlation between moral injury and medical professionalism. It is recommended to improve the level of organizational support in medical institutions and medical professionalism， establish specialized psychological and moral aid institutions， and create a caring organizational atmosphere， to prevent and repair physicians’ moral injury and better protect their physical and mental well-being.
