Moral Wounds and Moral Repair: The Dilemmas of Spirituality and Culturally Sensitive Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-150
Author(s):  
W. Patrick Sullivan ◽  
Vincent R. Starnino
Keyword(s):  
Personal Values ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
Moral Injury ◽  
Spiritual Struggle ◽  
Identity Disturbance ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
Assumptive World ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Injury And Repair ◽  
Culturally Sensitive Practice

As our understanding of trauma is expanding, greater consideration is being given to factors such as moral injury and spirituality. Moral injury appears to be especially pertinent in the case of war-related trauma, as one may not only be the victim of, or witness to, troubling events but also be the perpetrator of acts that run counter to personal values. For some, moral beliefs and values and key elements of the assumptive world are intertwined with spiritual and religious matters. This article discusses moral injury and repair in the context of spiritually and culturally sensitive practice. Strategies for addressing issues such as moral anguish, loss of meaning, identity disturbance, guilt and shame, forgiveness, and spiritual struggle are discussed.

Communicating moral reasoning in medicine as an expression of respect for patients and integrity among professionals

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauris Christopher Kaldjian
Keyword(s):  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Moral Reasons ◽  
Moral Pluralism ◽  
Moral Integrity ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
Moral Framework ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Moral Frameworks ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Do So

The communication of moral reasoning in medicine can be understood as a means of showing respect for patients and colleagues through the giving of moral reasons for actions. This communication is especially important when disagreements arise. While moral reasoning should strive for impartiality, it also needs to acknowledge the individual moral beliefs and values that distinguish each person (moral particularity) and give rise to the challenge of contrasting moral frameworks (moral pluralism). Efforts to communicate moral reasoning should move beyond common approaches to principles-based reasoning in medical ethics by addressing the underlying beliefs and values that define our moral frameworks and guide our interpretations and applications of principles. Communicating about underlying beliefs and values requires a willingness to grapple with challenges of accessibility (the degree to which particular beliefs and values are intelligible between persons) and translatability (the degree to which particular beliefs and values can be transposed from one moral framework to another) as words and concepts are used to communicate beliefs and values. Moral dialogues between professionals and patients and among professionals themselves need to be handled carefully, and sometimes these dialogues invite reference to underlying beliefs and values. When professionals choose to articulate such beliefs and values, they can do so as an expression of respectful patient care and collaboration and as a means of promoting their own moral integrity by signalling the need for consistency between their own beliefs, words and actions.

Moral Injury and Biblical Studies: An Early Sampling of Research and Emerging Trends

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-144
Author(s):  
Brad E. Kelle
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Moral Injury ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Emerging Trends ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The World ◽  
Biblical Texts

Moral injury emerged within clinical psychology and related fields to refer to a non-physical wound (psychological and emotional pain and its effects) that results from the violation (by oneself or others) of a person’s deepest moral beliefs (about oneself, others, or the world). Originally conceived in the context of warfare, the notion has now expanded to include the morally damaging impact of various non-war-related experiences and circumstances. Since its inception, moral injury has been an intersectional and cross-disciplinary term and significant work has appeared in psychology, philosophy, medicine, spiritual/pastoral care, chaplaincy, and theology. Since 2015, biblical scholarship has engaged moral injury along two primary trajectories: 1) creative re-readings of biblical stories and characters informed by insights from moral injury; and 2) explorations of the postwar rituals and symbolic practices found in biblical texts and how they might connect to the felt needs of morally injured persons. These trajectories suggest that the engagement between the Bible and moral injury generates a two-way conversation in which moral injury can serve as a heuristic that brings new meanings out of biblical texts, and the critical study of biblical texts can contribute to the attempts to understand, identify, and heal moral injury.

scholarly journals Hospitals and cultural diversity: social worker experiences and reflections

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris Anne Testa
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Cultural Sensitivity ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
Hospital Social Workers ◽  
Culturally Sensitive Practice

INTRODUCTION: Social work accrediting bodies mandate that workers analyse ways in which cultural values and structural forces shape client experiences and opportunities and that workers deconstruct mechanisms of exclusion and asymmetrical power relationships. This article reports the findings of a small-scale qualitative study of frontline hospital social workers’ experiences and understanding of their mandate for culturally sensitive practice.METHODS: The study involved one-hour, semi-structured interviews with 10 frontline hospital social workers. The interviews sought to understand how frontline workers and their organisations understood sensitive practice. Drawing on their own social cultural biographies, workers described organisational policy and practices that supported (or not) culturally sensitive practice. Narrative analysis was used to extract themes.FINDINGS: Data indicate that frontline hospital social workers demonstrated their professional mandate for culturally sensitive practice. Workers were firm in their view that working with the culturally other requires humility as well as a preparedness to value and engage the multiple cultural meanings that evolve in the patient–worker encounter.CONCLUSION: The findings highlight that mandating cultural sensitivity does not necessarily result in such practice. Cultural sensitivity requires an understanding of how cultural and social location may be implicated in sustaining the dominant cultural narrative and signals the need for workers, systems and organisations to facilitate appropriate learning experiences to explore culturally sensitive practice.   

scholarly journals The Relationship between Mind-Body Dualism and Personal Values

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Gunne Grankvist ◽  
Petri Kajonius ◽  
Bjorn Persson
Keyword(s):  
Personal Values ◽  
Mental States ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Dualists view the mind and the body as two fundamental different “things”, equally real and independent of each other. Cartesian thought, or substance dualism, maintains that the mind and body are two different substances, the non-physical and the physical, and a causal relationship is assumed to exist between them. Physicalism, on the other hand, is the idea that everything that exists is either physical or totally dependent of and determined by physical items. Hence, all mental states are fundamentally physical states. In the current study we investigated to what degree Swedish university students’ beliefs in mind-body dualism is explained by the importance they attach to personal values. A self-report inventory was used to measure their beliefs and values. Students who held stronger dualistic beliefs attach less importance to the power value (i.e., the effort to achieve social status, prestige, and control or dominance over people and resources). This finding shows that the strength in laypeople’s beliefs in dualism is partially explained by the importance they attach to personal values.</p>

Providing Culturally Sensitive Nursing Care for Vulnerable Immigrant Populations

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-137
Author(s):  
Denise R. Felsenstein
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Care ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
Philosophical Foundation ◽  
Transcultural Nursing ◽  
Nursing Theory ◽  
Immigrant Populations ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Time Required

Vulnerable immigrant populations require culturally sensitive nursing care that shows respect for their beliefs and values, and fosters trusting relationships by allowing the time required to communicate in their language of origin. Transcultural Nursing Theory (Leininger & McFarland, 2002) provides a philosophical foundation for nursing care of immigrant populations. Harsh political policies involving undocumented immigrants can erode trust and cause fear of all U.S. institutions, including the health-care system. Separating families in an effort to deter entry into the United States without documentation can lead to detrimental effects on the children (Perreira & Pedroza, 2019). The American Nurses Association's Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (2015) addresses the protection of vulnerable populations.

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