Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “MORALS”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 397 records · Page 22Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Moral status and the treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Many contemporary bioethicists claim that the possession of certain psychological properties is sufficient for having full moral status. I will call this the psychological approach to full moral status. In this paper, I argue that there is a significant tension between the psychological approach and a widely held model of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, formerly Multiple Personality Disorder). According to this model, the individual personalities or alters that belong to someone with DID possess those properties that proponents of the psychological approach claim suffice for full moral status. If this account of DID is true, then the psychological approach to full moral status seems to entail that the two standard therapies for treating DID might, on occasion, be seriously immoral, for they may well involve the (involuntary) elimination of an entity with full moral status. This result should give proponents of the psychological approach pause, for most people find the claim that current treatments of DID are ethically suspect highly counter-intuitive.

Dissociative Identity Disorder↗
PubMed2006

Moral values and career: factors shaping the image of healthy work for female dentists.

OBJECTIVE: Female unpromoted general practice dentists (GPDs) constitute about one-quarter of all dentists in Sweden. These female dentists suffer from many problems relating to their psychosocial working conditions. There are wide discrepancies between their perception of the ideal job situation and reality. Previously, three factors were found to constitute the ideal job situation. The aim of this study was to analyze patterns in two of these factors, i.e. the moral and the career factors, for understanding how ideal circumstances are conceived, i.e. how "good work" for the dentists could be obtained. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In the year 2000, all female unpromoted GPDs (183 persons) within the Public Dental Health Service (PDHS) in a region in Sweden received a questionnaire; response rate 94%. Four multiple regression models were constructed for two factors of good work and for the differences between the ideal job situation and reality concerning these factors. RESULTS: In all models, the explained variance was high. Those dentists who were committed to moral issues perceived large differences between the ideal and reality concerning moral values. Dentists committed to career issues experienced large differences between the ideal and reality concerning career development. Those dentists - about 60% - who would not want to be a dentist if they were to choose today, perceived large discrepancies concerning moral and career issues. CONCLUSIONS: The PDHS organization has failed to convince or engage those whom it ought to engage, that is those with the highest level of commitment. Dentists' emphasis on moral values confirms the character of dentistry as primarily a human service work.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1993

How to deal with moral issues in group therapy without being judgmental.

The author discusses the pervasive difficulty psychotherapists seem to have in discussing patient morality, relating it to the fear of imposing (and feeling) shame and guilt. A way of nonjudgmentally discussing moral values with patients is presented, which places emphasis not on moral abrogations, but rather on the "virtues" of altruism, responsibility, justice, egalitarianism, and honesty. Drawing on empirical studies of prosocial behavior, the author gives a rationale for how these virtues may, whether the therapist is conscious of it or not, be inherently promoted through the group therapy process. Ways are suggested by which the therapist can help the group deal with thorny moral issues and confront the morally confused patient without causing shame.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1976

Some cognitive, behavioral and personality correlates of maturity of moral judgment.

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that maturity of moral judgment is related to moral behavior and to certain personality characteristics. The Ss, 33 fifth grade boys (approximately 10 1/2-years of age), were given the Kohlberg test of moral judgment, and scores on this test were related to a measure of general intelligence, moral conduct as judged by peers (sociometric nominations), honesty in a structured test, and certain personality variables. Maturity of moral judgment was found to be significantly correlated with general cognitive ability (intelligence test performance) and, even with intelligence partialed out, with resistance to temptation, reputation for being concerned with the welfare of others, self-confidence, and security in social relationships with peers.

Child↗
PubMed1979

Effects of alcohol on moral functioning in male social drinkers.

The present study investigated the effect of alcohol consumption on both moral reasoning and moral values, cognitive variables which are likely to mediate moral behavior. Fifty-five male social drinkers (Mean age = 19.75 years) participated in a one-way pretest-posttest design incorporating two experimental (alcohol) and three control groups. Results showed that alcohol did not affect moral stage reasoning on the Defining Issues Test. However, the endorsement of meaningless items was significantly, but differentially, affected by the alcohol doses administered. No group differences were found in regard to moral values. These findings are related to previous research on alcohol and cognitive processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Fair Play for Kids: effects on the moral development of children in physical education.

Commitment to the principles of sportspersonship is an acknowledged goal for school physical education. However, few programs have been implemented to investigate moral development changes in physical activity settings. A field experiment was designed to examine the effect of participation in educational activities selected from Fair Play for Kids (1990) on the moral judgment, reason, intention, and prosocial behavior of children (N = 452) in the 4th through 6th grades. Six intact classrooms at each grade level (N = 18) were randomly assigned to the following groups: (a) control, (b) Fair Play for Kids curriculum during physical education only, or (c) Fair Play for Kids curriculum during all school subjects. Experimental protocol extended for 7 months of an academic year, and moral development indicators were assessed prior to and following the intervention. Using class as the unit of analysis, 3 x 2 (Group x Time) repeated measures analyses of variance revealed that both treatment groups were significantly higher than the control group at posttest for moral judgment, reason, and intention scores. For students within classes, repeated measures analyses showed that treatment group participants had significantly higher posttest scores on all 4 measures as compared to students in the control group. Results provide initial validation of the Fair Play For Kids curriculum for effecting change in the moral development of elementary school students.

Attitude↗
PubMed2001

Moral issues in day-to-day palliative medicine and their relevance for the education of European general practitioners.

BACKGROUND: Considerations of moral problems in palliative medicine often deal with extreme situations. This study identified moral issues arising in routine palliative medicine. Their relevance for the education of European general practitioners is assessed. METHODS: Consecutive consultations of cancer patients with incurable disease were recorded in three outpatient clinics and one general practice in Belgium. Moral issues were identified by qualitative analysis of verbal transcripts of 30 of these consultations using the grounded-theory approach. The relevance of these issues for medical education was assessed by interviewing one educator of general practitioners from each of the 15 European Union states. RESULTS: Three core categories of moral issues were identified: telling the truth, patient control versus medical dominance, and handling the patient's life-world. The practical relevance of these issues was recognized by the educators. The suggested educational methods to deal with these topics were all active learning processes in small-group settings but varied otherwise. CONCLUSIONS: The moral issues identified in day-to-day palliative medicine may complement the problems evoked in the literature dealing with more extreme situations. An effort to study the appropriate way for medical education to deal with these topics may be indicated.

Europe↗
PubMed2004

The moral relevance of addiction.

I attempt to understand and assess the widespread belief that addiction is relevant to morality. I examine several accounts of how addiction might be significant from a moral point of view. Although I briefly discuss theories of virtue, I focus on three possible ways addiction might be relevant to moral blame. First, blame might be imposed for the act of using addictive drugs. Second, blame might be imposed for the condition of being addicted. Third, blame might be imposed for further risks persons are likely to undertake once they have become addicts. I conclude that each of these accounts has some plausibility, but none is entirely unproblematic. Addiction probably is relevant to morality, although its degree of importance is not as great as some commentators appear to believe. The moral relevance of addiction does not appear to rise to whatever level would justify a punitive response to addictive drug users.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1990

The relationship of intergenerational reciprocity of aid to the morale of older parents: equity and exchange theory comparisons.

Information concerning the relationship of intergenerational helping to older adult well-being is ambiguous. Intergenerational reciprocity was investigated using two competing theoretical perspectives, social exchange and equity propositions. Social exchange propositions predict a linear relationship between intergenerational aid and older parent morale, with higher morale positively related to giving or receiving more intergenerational help. Equity propositions predict that the intergenerational aid, morale relationship will be curvilinear, with higher older parent morale related to balanced exchanges of intergenerational aid. Neither theoretical perspective was supported by the data. Intergenerational aid was not useful in explaining variance in older parent morale regardless of the operational definition of intergenerational aid. These results provide support for earlier studies that conclude the amount of help exchanged within families does not affect the well-being of older family members.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Social network type and morale in old age.

PURPOSE: The aim of this research was to derive network types among an elderly population and to examine the relationship of network type to morale. DESIGN AND METHODS: Secondary analysis of data compiled by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (n = 2,079) was employed, and network types were derived through K-means cluster analysis. Respondents' morale scores were regressed on network types, controlling for background and health variables. RESULTS: Five network types were derived. Respondents in diverse or friends networks reported the highest morale; those in exclusively family or restricted networks had the lowest. Multivariate regression analysis underscored that certain network types were second among the study variables in predicting respondents' morale, preceded only by disability level (Adjusted R(2) =.41). IMPLICATIONS: Classification of network types allows consideration of the interpersonal environments of older people in relation to outcomes of interest. The relative effects on morale of elective versus obligated social ties, evident in the current analysis, is a case in point.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1997

Moralization of attachment: a fourth domain of conscience functioning.

OBJECTIVES: To define discrete developmental levels of understanding regarding the ways in which normal children and adolescents link remembered and current attachment experiences to their moral belief system and to study the correlation between this progression and previously identified stages of conscience conceptualization. METHOD: Using the moralization of attachment section from the semistructured Stilwell Conscience Interview, 132 normal volunteers between the ages of 5 and 17 years were individually interviewed. Analysis of the interviews resulted in five levels of understanding. RESULTS: By analyses of variance and covariance, the five attachment levels showed significant correlation with the five conceptualization stages. Conceptualization stage showed a stronger correlation than age. CONCLUSIONS: In normal development, moralization of attachment is a domain of conscience functioning which follows a five-level hierarchical developmental progression; first, the child's sense of security and empathic responsiveness become paired with a sense of moral obligation; caretaker rules are then incorporated; an understanding of how empathy modifies strict rule-following develops; idols and ideals are chosen that reflect earlier learning in attachment relationships; finally, a visualization of the self as moral standard-bearer or teacher unfolds.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Assessing moral distress in respiratory care practitioners.

OBJECTIVE: To test the reliability and validity of a modified moral distress tool, originally developed for the nursing profession, on respiratory care practitioners. To describe the relationship between moral distress, career dissatisfaction, and job turnover in respiratory care. DESIGN: A 28-question survey was developed. Three categories of survey questions were predefined: "individual responsibility," "not in the patient's best interest," and "deception." Additional questions measured career dissatisfaction, job turnover, and demographic information. SETTING: University Hospital at the University of Virginia Health System, a 552-bed tertiary care hospital. SUBJECTS: Fifty-seven of 115 (49.6%) of respiratory care practitioners responded to the survey. INTERVENTIONS: Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the underlying factor structure. After we extracted theoretically meaningful factors, reliability of each factor was estimated. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to test if the underlying factors predicted career dissatisfaction and job turnover. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The factor analysis yielded a five-factor structure. Several questions in the "not in patient's best interest" category scored the highest moral distress including disagreements with surrogate decision makers and providing futile care. Higher scores were also found with questions regarding the perception of unsafe staffing and passively or actively participating in deception. None of the demographic variables predicted career dissatisfaction or job turnover. However, the perception of unsafe staffing was found to be a significant factor in predicting career dissatisfaction and job turnover. CONCLUSIONS: In this one-center pilot study, respiratory care practitioners reported experiencing moral distress in many areas of their practice. Distress related to the perception of unsafe staffing may be related to career dissatisfaction and job turnover. Further exploration of the factors that contribute to respiratory care practitioners' moral distress is needed, as well as implementing ways to ameliorate it.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Medicalization as a moral problem for preventative medicine.

Preventive medicine is sometimes criticised as it contributes to medicalization of normal life. The concept 'medicalization' has been introduced by Zola to refer to processes in which the labels 'health' and 'ill' are made relevant for more and more aspects of human life. If preventive medicine contributes to medicalization, would that be morally problematic? My thesis is that such a contribution is indeed morally problematic. The concept is sometimes used to express moral intuitions regarding the practice of prevention and health promotion. Through analysis of these intuitions as well as some other moral concerns, I give an explication of the moral problems of medicalization within the context of preventive medicine.

Altruism↗
PubMed2004

Capacities, context and moral status of animals.

According to a widely shared intuition, normal adult humans require greater moral concern than normal, adult animals in at least some circumstances. Even the most steadfast defenders of animals' moral status attempt to accommodate this intuition, often by holding that humans' higher-level capacities (intellect, linguistic ability, and so on) give rise to a greater number of interests, and thus the likelihood of greater satisfaction, thereby making their lives more valuable. However, the moves from capacities to interests, and from interests to the likelihood of satisfaction, have up to now gone unexamined and undefended. I argue that context plays a morally significant role both in the formation of an individual's capacities, and in the determination of the individual's interests and potential for satisfaction based on those capacities. Claims about an individual's capacities and interests are typically presented as unconditional; but on closer examination, they are revealed to be contingent on tacit assumptions about context. Until we develop an understanding of how to account for the role of context within our moral theories, attempts to defend special moral concern for human beings based on their superior capacities are less firmly grounded than is commonly thought.

Animal Experimentation↗
PubMed1994

Preparing for trust status--an investigation into the morale of nurses undergoing change.

The morale of nurses is a phenomenon often open to public comment without substantiated evidence. This study objectively explored the morale of nurses in a large district general hospital preparing for transition to National Health (NHS) Trust status. Information was sought using a 72-item questionnaire. The investigation was firmly centred around a structured theory which construes morale in terms of nine dimensions. The notion of morale being a construct synthesized of nine dimensions adds to the uniqueness of the study. Other studies fail to differentiate between the dynamic morale construct and the more complacent attitudes of job satisfaction.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

Beyond caring: the moral and ethical bases of responsive nurse-patient relationships.

Although we theorize that nurses "make a difference" to patient outcomes and speculate that this happens because nurses "care", there is so far little evidence to support this nebulous claim. Efforts to promote care as the defining characteristic of nursing, and an "ethic of care" as the ethical basis of nursing, have sparked debate within the discipline. This debate has resulted in a polarization that has effectively stalled productive discourse on the issues. Moreover, the focus on care has been at the expense of understanding the true nature of the relationship between caring and the broader base of ethical knowledge that underpins nursing and that must underpin nursing if it is a viable practice profession. This paper used the framework of philosophical argument to explore the moral and ethical foundations of nursing from the perspective of personal and public morals, and responsive nurse-patient relationships as the reflection of ethical nursing knowledge. The foundation of ethical nursing knowledge is the personal moral sense that resides within the individual and that nurses hold in common with others. Personal moral knowledge is transformed into disciplinary ethical knowledge specific to nursing through disciplinary consensus. Responsive relationships are conceptualized in the nursing literature as founded on three essential elements: respect, trust, and mutuality. These three elements are grounded in ethical nursing knowledge; therefore responsive nurse-patient relationships reflect both personal moral knowledge and disciplinary ethical knowledge. By facilitating the articulation of ethical nursing knowledge in practice, responsive relationships connect theory, ethical knowledge, and clinical outcomes.

Empathy↗
PubMed1982

Sexual experience, sex guilt, and sexual moral reasoning.

Two studies are described in which the relations between sexual experience, sex guilt, and sexual moral reasoning were examined. Subjects were asked to articulate their opinions on each of six sexual activities, and then choose one of six statements (corresponding to Kohlberg's six stages of reasoning) that most clearly reflected why they had, or had not, engaged in three of those activities. An analysis of the moral reasoning present in each of the six articulated responses indicated that level of reasoning was inversely related to sex guilt. Analysis of the preference data indicated that subjects endorsed reasoning (statements) at a higher stage than they had articulated, and that this "gap" between articulation and preference was much greater for less experienced subjects. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of using situation-specific moral dilemmas when assessing moral reasoning, and in terms of the possible role that lack of sexual experience plays in inhibiting sexual moral development.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Children's understanding of moral emotions.

4-8-year-old children's attributions of emotion to a story figure who violated a moral rule were studied in a series of experiments. Most 4-year-olds judged a wrongdoer to experience positive emotions, focusing their justifications on the successful outcome of his action, whereas almost all 8-year-olds attributed negative feelings, focusing on the moral value of the wrongdoer's action. A developmental trend from outcome-oriented toward morally oriented emotion attributions was also observed in children's judgments of the feelings of a story character who had resisted temptation. When morally evaluating a wrongdoer, only children above the age of 6 years took emotional reactions into account, judging a "happy" wrongdoer to be worse than a "sorry" one. 4- and 5-year-olds attributed positive emotions to a wrongdoer even if his transgression was severe and if he did not gain any material profit from it. However, they did not expect a person (even an ill-motivated one) to feel good if he or she unintentionally harmed another person or merely observed someone being hurt. These results are discussed in relation to recent research on children's developing conceptions of emotion and on the early development of moral understanding.

Accidents↗