'Telling them "that's what it says in the guidance" didn't feel good enough': moral distress during the pandemic in UK public health professionals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The study aimed to identify the causes of moral distress in public health professionals associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the potential ways of avoiding or mitigating the distress.

Methods

The survey was distributed to all members of the UK Faculty of Public Health between 14 December 2021 and 23 February 2022. Conventional qualitative content analysis was conducted to explore the situations in which moral distress arises, the moral judgments that led to distress and the proposed ways to address moral distress.

Results

A total of 629 responses were received from respondents broadly representative of the public health professional workforce. The main situations causing moral distress were national policy, guidance and law; public health advice; and

SUBMITTER: Bow SMA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10901263 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature