IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v70y2016icp190-200.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A scoping study of moral injury: Identifying directions for social work research

Author

Listed:
  • Haight, Wendy
  • Sugrue, Erin
  • Calhoun, Molly
  • Black, James

Abstract

This paper presents a scoping study of moral injury that identified directions for social work research. “Moral injury” refers to lasting psychological, spiritual and social harm caused by one's own or others' actions in a high stakes situation that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations. A “scoping study” is a type of systematic review and knowledge synthesis useful when considering complex, emerging areas of research. Results revealed an increasing interest in moral injury over the past five years primarily in psychology/psychiatry. The majority of published articles are conceptual. Empirical studies aim to better understand the experience of moral injury, qualitatively; and develop and evaluate instruments to assess moral injury, quantitatively. Most empirical studies of moral injury involve US war veterans with little attention to moral injury in other groups, sociocultural contexts, or at different times in development. Failure to address issues of moral injury in social work may leave vulnerable clients struggling with issues of guilt, shame, moral confusion, and an absence of meaning that may persist for years and create obstacles to positive change. In addition, social workers may experience moral injury as they witness morally injurious behavior of others and of systems. If unaddressed, such injuries may diminish effectiveness, or lead to burn out. Social workers need relevant research to understand the extent to which moral injury affects them and their clients, and how to identify and address it.

Suggested Citation

  • Haight, Wendy & Sugrue, Erin & Calhoun, Molly & Black, James, 2016. "A scoping study of moral injury: Identifying directions for social work research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 190-200.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:70:y:2016:i:c:p:190-200
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.09.026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740916303073
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.09.026?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rees, Susan & Silove, Derrick, 2011. "Sakit Hati: A state of chronic mental distress related to resentment and anger amongst West Papuan refugees exposed to persecution," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 103-110, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haight, Wendy & Korang-Okrah, Rose & Black, James E. & Gibson, Priscilla & Nashandi, Ndilimeke J.C., 2020. "Moral injury among Akan women: Lessons for culturally sensitive child welfare interventions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    2. Haight, Wendy & Cho, Minhae & Soffer-Elnekave, Ruth & Nashandi, Ndilimeke J.C. & Suleiman, Johara, 2022. "Moral injury experienced by emerging adults with child welfare histories in developmental and sociocultural contexts: “I knew the system was broken.”," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Shan Parker & Vicki Johnson-Lawrence, 2022. "Addressing Trauma-Informed Principles in Public Health through Training and Practice," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    4. Haight, Wendy & Sugrue, Erin P. & Calhoun, Molly, 2017. "Moral injury among Child Protection Professionals: Implications for the ethical treatment and retention of workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 27-41.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Susan Rees & Derrick Silove & Teresa Verdial & Natalino Tam & Elisa Savio & Zulmira Fonseca & Rosamund Thorpe & Belinda Liddell & Anthony Zwi & Kuowei Tay & Robert Brooks & Zachary Steel, 2013. "Intermittent Explosive Disorder amongst Women in Conflict Affected Timor-Leste: Associations with Human Rights Trauma, Ongoing Violence, Poverty, and Injustice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-7, August.
    2. Rasmussen, Andrew & Keatley, Eva & Joscelyne, Amy, 2014. "Posttraumatic stress in emergency settings outside North America and Europe: A review of the emic literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 44-54.
    3. Tay, Alvin Kuowei & Rees, Susan & Chan, Jack & Kareth, Moses & Silove, Derrick, 2015. "Examining the broader psychosocial effects of mass conflict on PTSD symptoms and functional impairment amongst West Papuan refugees resettled in Papua New Guinea (PNG)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 70-78.
    4. Flora Cohen, 2023. "Cultural idioms of distress among displaced populations: A scoping review," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(1), pages 5-13, February.
    5. Haroz, E.E. & Ritchey, M. & Bass, J.K. & Kohrt, B.A. & Augustinavicius, J. & Michalopoulos, L. & Burkey, M.D. & Bolton, P., 2017. "How is depression experienced around the world? A systematic review of qualitative literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 151-162.
    6. Alvin Kuowei Tay & Susan J. Rees & Natalino Tam & Elisa Savio & Zelia Maria Da Costa & Derrick Silove, 2017. "The Role of Trauma-Related Injustice in Pathways to Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Conjugal Couples: A Multilevel, Dyadic Analysis in Postconflict Timor-Leste," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(3), pages 21582440177, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:70:y:2016:i:c:p:190-200. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.