Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background/Objectives: Moral distress is commonly experienced by healthcare professionals (i.e., nurses) as ethical conflict. Previous literature suggests that moral distress contributes to emotional exhaustion in these professionals. We aimed to synthesize and analyze studies that examined the rela...

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Authors: Orgambídez Ramos, Alejandro, Borrego Alés, Yolanda, Alcalde de Hoyos, Francisco Javier, Durán Durán, María Auxiliadora
Format: article
Publication Date:2025
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repository:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/25058
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25058
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Moral distress
Emotional exhaustion
Healthcare professionals
Systematic review
Correlation coefficient
Meta-analysis
61 Psicología
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spelling Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-AnalysisOrgambídez Ramos, AlejandroBorrego Alés, YolandaAlcalde de Hoyos, Francisco JavierDurán Durán, María AuxiliadoraMoral distressEmotional exhaustionHealthcare professionalsSystematic reviewCorrelation coefficientMeta-analysis61 PsicologíaBackground/Objectives: Moral distress is commonly experienced by healthcare professionals (i.e., nurses) as ethical conflict. Previous literature suggests that moral distress contributes to emotional exhaustion in these professionals. We aimed to synthesize and analyze studies that examined the relationship between moral distress and emotional exhaustion in healthcare professionals. Methods: Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Medline, and PsycInfo were used to search targeted studies written in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. The correlation coefficients of each study were extracted and converted into Fisher’s z. Finally, pooled r was calculated by Fisher’s z and standard error. The meta-analysis was performed with the R statistical program. Results: A total of 14 studies with 2425 healthcare professionals were included. The Moral Distress Scale Revised (MDS-R) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were the most used scales to measure moral distress and emotional exhaustion, respectively. The pooled correlation coefficient between moral distress and emotional exhaustion was 0.33 (p < 0.001, 95%CI: 0.27, 0.39). Conclusions: Moral distress is strongly correlated to emotional exhaustion in healthcare professionals. Future studies should focus on exploring the causal relationships between both variables as well as investigating potential moderators.MDPI20252025-02-0120252025-02-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10272/25058reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelvainstname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/250582026-06-02T14:58:11Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
title Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
spellingShingle Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Orgambídez Ramos, Alejandro
Moral distress
Emotional exhaustion
Healthcare professionals
Systematic review
Correlation coefficient
Meta-analysis
61 Psicología
title_short Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
title_full Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
title_fullStr Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
title_sort Moral Distress and Emotional Exhaustion in Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Orgambídez Ramos, Alejandro
Borrego Alés, Yolanda
Alcalde de Hoyos, Francisco Javier
Durán Durán, María Auxiliadora
author Orgambídez Ramos, Alejandro
author_facet Orgambídez Ramos, Alejandro
Borrego Alés, Yolanda
Alcalde de Hoyos, Francisco Javier
Durán Durán, María Auxiliadora
author_role author
author2 Borrego Alés, Yolanda
Alcalde de Hoyos, Francisco Javier
Durán Durán, María Auxiliadora
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Moral distress
Emotional exhaustion
Healthcare professionals
Systematic review
Correlation coefficient
Meta-analysis
61 Psicología
topic Moral distress
Emotional exhaustion
Healthcare professionals
Systematic review
Correlation coefficient
Meta-analysis
61 Psicología
description Background/Objectives: Moral distress is commonly experienced by healthcare professionals (i.e., nurses) as ethical conflict. Previous literature suggests that moral distress contributes to emotional exhaustion in these professionals. We aimed to synthesize and analyze studies that examined the relationship between moral distress and emotional exhaustion in healthcare professionals. Methods: Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Medline, and PsycInfo were used to search targeted studies written in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. The correlation coefficients of each study were extracted and converted into Fisher’s z. Finally, pooled r was calculated by Fisher’s z and standard error. The meta-analysis was performed with the R statistical program. Results: A total of 14 studies with 2425 healthcare professionals were included. The Moral Distress Scale Revised (MDS-R) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were the most used scales to measure moral distress and emotional exhaustion, respectively. The pooled correlation coefficient between moral distress and emotional exhaustion was 0.33 (p < 0.001, 95%CI: 0.27, 0.39). Conclusions: Moral distress is strongly correlated to emotional exhaustion in healthcare professionals. Future studies should focus on exploring the causal relationships between both variables as well as investigating potential moderators.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-02-01
2025
2025-02-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25058
url https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25058
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
instname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
instname_str Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
reponame_str Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
collection Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,812429

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