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 1,045 records · Page 58Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Imagining HIV/AIDS: morality and perceptions of personal risk in Nigeria.

The disparity between people's knowledge about HIV/AIDS and the extent to which they take measures to protect themselves is one of the most vexing issues for public health workers and social science analysts. This paper aims to explain some of this discrepancy, using survey and ethnographic data collected among young rural-urban migrants in Aba and Kano, two cities in Nigeria. The paper argues that many young Nigerian migrants do not perceive significant personal risk because they construct the risk of AIDS in ethical and moral terms, projecting immorality and danger onto imaginary others. To understand the way young Nigerians interpret risk, the paper focuses on four related issues: (1) the organization and meaning of sexual relationships; (2) the intersection of gender and ideas about reproduction; (3) the perception of AIDS as a disease without hope; and (4) the importance of religion in young people's framing of moralities and ethical choices about sexuality and HIV/AIDS.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1990

Moral dilemmas in medical school admission.

The wide range of complex moral and ethical issues of medical school admission committees are seldom publicly acknowledged, reflected upon, analyzed, or discussed, although they are faced regularly. Three cases are presented that illustrate some of the common and unusual moral dilemmas in the admission process. These issues and several practical strategies for ethical decision making are discussed, along with their limitations and weaknesses. These practical strategies are applied to the three cases to see what solutions might be offered.

Confidentiality↗
PubMed1995

The potential for noncaring when dealing with difficult patients: strategies for moral decision making.

The potential for noncaring when dealing with difficult patients is a very real concern in nursing. Noncaring, manifested by distancing and withdrawal or punitive behaviors, exacts a high toll on the nurse-patient relationship. Noncaring may result in missed diagnoses and interventions, social isolation, and minimal or negative contact with the nurse. The purpose of this article is to share strategies for moral decision making that support the patient, family, and nurse in all care settings. Decisions to care must be based on professional, ethical, and moral principles rather than personal preferences. Scrutinizing one's personal biases and actions with application of ethical principles provides the framework for these strategies.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

New humanitarianism: does it provide a moral banner for the 21st century?

There is a 'new humanitarianism' for the new millennium. It is 'principled', 'human-rights based' and politically sensitive. Above all it is new. It marks a break from the past and a rejection of the traditional principles that guided humanitarianism through the last century. New humanitarians reject the political naivety of the past, assess the long-term political impact of relief and are prepared to see humanitarian aid used as a tool to achieve human rights and political goals. New Humanitarianism is compelling, in tune with our times and offers a new moral banner for humanitarians to cling to as we enter the new millennium. Or does it? After outlining the key elements of new humanitarianism, including the human rights approach and developmental relief, the paper spells out some of the dangers. The author claims that new humanitarianism results in an overt politicisation of aid in which agencies themselves use relief as a tool to achieve wider political goals. The paper shows how this approach has spawned a new conditionality which allowsfor aid to be withheld and has produced a moral hierarchy of victims in which some are more deserving than others. The paper concludes with a plea for a revival of the principle of universalism as the first step to a new set of principles.

Altruism↗
PubMed1994

Killing, letting die and moral perception.

There are a number of arguments that purport to show, in general terms, that there is no difference between killing and letting die. These are used to justify active euthanasia on the basis of the reasons given for allowing patients to die. I argue that the general and abstract arguments fail to take account of the complex and particular situations which are found in the care of those with terminal illness. When in such situations, there are perceptions and intuitions available that do not easily find propositional form but lead most of those whose practice is in the care of the dying to resist active euthanasia. I make a plea for their intuitions to be heeded above the sterile voice of abstract premises and arguments by examining the completeness of the outline form of the pro-euthanasia argument. In doing so, I make use of Nussbaum's discussion of moral perception and general claims to be found in the literature of moral particularism.

Altruism↗
PubMed1995

Designing babies: morally permissible ways to modify the human genome.

My focus in this paper is the question of the moral acceptability of attempts to modify the human genome. Much of the debate in this area has revolved around the distinction between supposedly therapeutic modification on the one hand, and eugenic modification on the other. In the first part of the paper I reject some recent arguments against genetic engineering. In the second part I seek to distinguish between permissible and impermissible forms of intervention in such a way that does not appeal to the therapeutic/eugenic distinction. If I am right much of what we would intuitively call eugenic intervention will be morally acceptable. Central to my argument is an asymmetry in the way genetic engineers can influence a person's capacities on the one hand and life-goals on the other. Forms of genetic intervention that have a high probability of producing a mismatch of life-goals and capacities will be ruled out.

Biology↗
PubMed1990

Moral sensing and ideological conflict. Aspects of the therapeutic relationship in psychiatric nursing.

A qualitative research study was conducted for the purpose of gaining knowledge of the therapeutic relationship as experienced by the psychiatric nurse. Deinstitutionalisation of the mentally ill, one of the goals of the mental health policy in Sweden, has broadened the field for psychiatric nurses. Nursing education on an academic level has prepared the nurse theoretically for increased responsibility in a variety of psychiatric settings. A general psychiatric ward in a large mental institution was chosen for the field work in this study. A phenomenological perspective and aspects of Grounded Theory were combined in the research strategy of participant observation. Data were collected and analysed simultaneously. The emerging conceptual categories were abstracted to two core concepts, moral sensing and ideological conflict. These were seen as central themes of the nurse-patient relationship as experienced by the psychiatric nurse. The nurse experienced that the dominant psychiatric ideology contradicted her own ideology. In order to reduce tension caused by this conflict, the nurse sought emotional support and encouragement from her co-workers. Alliance with the group could be seen as one strategy to reduce tensions but not necessarily to solve moral issues. The implication of this study is that although there may be a change in attitudes and approaches to mental illness and health, there are areas in psychiatric nursing which have not been fully explored. The nurse experiences many conflicts which can be described as ideological. This indicates the need to examine further the value and belief system upon which ethical decision-making is based and its effect on the nurse-patient relationship in psychiatric nursing.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1997

Moral aspects of risk and innovation.

In all areas of technological innovation and application, there are nontechnical (moral, cultural, religious, political, and regulatory) risk factors and uncertainties that have to be taken into account if research design and introduction of new devices and applications are to be successful. Products and methods will be beneficial to the patient if they meet personal and cultural expectations. Value assessment of individual patients and of cultural preferences and obstacles therefore has to be included in complex technology assessment. Successful recognition and management of moral and cultural risk factors may require changes in governmental regulation and research design and the development of risk recognition competence within professional organizations.

Beneficence↗
PubMed2005

Death or declaw: dealing with moral ambiguity in a veterinary hospital.

The medical practice of declawing has received much political debate over the past few years. Yet, empirical and theoretical research on how this practice is maintained and the ethical positions of those who actually participate in this work is lacking. Drawing from 9 months of ethnographic fieldwork in a feline-specific veterinary hospital and open-ended interviews with veterinarians and staff, this study examines veterinary staff members' attitudes toward, and strategies for, dealing with the medical practice of declawing. Specifically, findings show that a number of staff felt uncomfortable with their participation in onychectomy (declawing) and relied heavily on organizational support structures to cope both with these feelings and the moral ambiguity about the practice. Relying on these structures, the veterinarians and their staff are able simultaneously to define felines as subjects worthy of respect for their quality of life, protect their own self-identity as people who work toward the best interest of animals, and paradoxically support action toward felines that they find morally objectionable.

Amputation, Surgical↗
PubMed2006

The moral basis of animal-assisted therapy.

Is nonhuman animal-assisted therapy (AAT) a form of exploitation? After exploring possible moral vindications of AAT and after establishing a distinction between "use" and "exploitation," the essay distinguishes between forms of animal-assisted therapy that are morally unobjectionable and those modes of it that ought to be abolished.

Animal Welfare↗
PubMed2003

War, exile, moral knowledge and the limits of psychiatric understanding: a clinical case study of a Bosnian refugee in London.

BACKGROUND: This paper describes a Bosnian refugee, a survivor of war and ethnic cleansing, during a 3-year follow-up in a psychiatry clinic. DISCUSSION: This case throws light on the tension between medicotherapeutic and sociomoral ways of understanding the effects of such experiences, and of the limitations of morally and politically neutral psychiatric categories and technologies. Suffering always invokes questions of values: in this case the clinical picture represented a moral protest at what had been done with such impunity, and a refusal to accommodate to a world which now seemed unintelligible. The clinical picture also embodied the collective outrage, and sense of unfinished business, which many back in Bosnia itself were carrying in the wake of the 1995 Dayton peace accords which effectively legitimised the lines of ethnic cleansing. CONCLUSIONS: DSM or ICD diagnoses of depressive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder turned out to lack validity and explanatory power. Claims that victims of war and atrocity typically have an unmet need for mental health services are overstated. Recovery from the effects of war may depend on reestablishing a sense of intelligibility, a task that must primarily go on in social space rather than mental space.

Bosnia and Herzegovina↗
PubMed2001

The first nurse-patient encounter in a psychiatric setting: discovering a moral commitment in nursing.

The aim of this study was to deepen nurses' understanding of the importance of carefully managing the first nurse-patient encounter in a psychiatric setting according to each patient's suffering and future hopes. The study was carried out using an action research approach. The action planned was the implementation of a conceptual model reflecting Eriksson's caring theory. Data were collected by interviews with nurses and observational notes kept in a research diary. The data analysis followed the procedure of qualitative content analysis. A generalization of the entire learning process shows the first nurse-patient encounter to be a moral commitment in nursing. A theoretical framework of nursing assessment conveying knowledge about the patient as unique and being a whole person can support the nurse in encouraging the patient to enter into a relationship. This insight stimulated the nurses in this study to reflect on the moral responsibility of continuing the relationship and initiating an ongoing nursing process. Awareness of this responsibility made them reflect more on the possibility of nurses taking autonomous actions in order not to abandon the patient and to avoid feeling guilty.

Ethics, Nursing↗
PubMed1997

Moral crisis, professionals and ethical education.

Western civilization has probably reached an impasse, expressed as a crisis on all fronts: economic, technological, environmental and political. This is experienced on the cultural level as a moral crisis or an ethical deficit. Somehow, the means we have always assumed as being adequate to the task of achieving human welfare, health and peace, are failing us. Have we lost sight of the primacy of human ends? Governments still push for economic growth and technological advances, but many are now asking: economic growth for what, technology for what? Health care and nursing are caught up in the same inversion of human priorities. Professionals, such as nurses and midwives, need to take on social responsibilities and a collective civic voice, and play their part in a moral regeneration of society. This involves carrying civic rights and duties into the workplace.

Disclosure↗
PubMed1998

Intimacy--meeting needs and respecting privacy in the care of elderly people: what is a good moral attitude on the part of the nurse/carer?

This article explores notions of intimacy in the caring context. The aspects discussed are: privacy and intimacy; intimacy as emotional and/or physical closeness; intimacy as touch; sexual intimacy and normal ageing; sexual intimacy and patients suffering from dementia; and intimacy as trust. Examples are given and problems are identified, with reflection on the attitude and behaviour of the carer. It is suggested that when trying to make moral decisions in concrete situations it is imperative that the carer is aware of the values upon which his or her own thinking is based. It is argued that the guiding principle should be the moral assumption that the carer's responsibility can never be interpreted as a right to disregard the wishes of the patient. Hence, the key word in daily care is 'respect'.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Moral dilemmas of nursing in end-of-life care in Hungary: a personal perspective.

The authors' aim is to bring to the attention of readers the inadequacies of care for people in Hungary who are terminally ill. They believe that both objective and subjective factors cause these inadequacies. Most of these factors arise from moral dilemmas that could be eased or even solved if ethics education had a much more prominent place in the nursing curriculum. Even if nurses would not become automatically better persons morally, a much wider knowledge of medical/nursing ethics could significantly improve nursing care both before and at the end of life. Although the article is also critical of the nursing care provided, it is not its purpose to make any generalizations. The study utilized selected passages from essays written by 76 practicing nurses on their personal experience of ethical dilemmas in their work environment, and a questionnaire administered to 250 students (registered nurses and health care students) studying for a college degree. This article is written by two authors who have formed an unusual alliance: a registered nurse with 29 years' experience of bedside nursing, but who is currently a teacher of nursing ethics at a local health college, and a lawyer turned bioethicist.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2005

To be a nurse or a neighbour? A moral concern for psychiatric nurses living next door to individuals with a mental illness.

Several studies reveal that positive attitudes towards individuals with a mental illness are correlated with knowledge about mental illness. The aim of this study was to explore and describe psychiatric nurses' experiences of living next to people with mental health problems. In addition, it sought to identify and describe how they handle situations arising in a neighbourhood where people with a mental illness live. Two men and seven women participated in the study. The constant comparative method of grounded theory was used for data collection and analysis. The process of 'behaving as a nurse or not' was identified as a core category. Four subcategories were identified: 'receiving involuntary information', 'to take action or not', 'behaving as a mediator in the neighbourhood' and 'the freedom of choice'. The findings show that psychiatric nurses with professional knowledge about mental illness have moral concerns about their role as nurses during their leisure time. In conclusion, it is not obvious that psychiatric nurses want to live in the same neighbourhood as persons with a mental illness. However, this study shows that their knowledge about mental illness creates for them a moral dilemma consisting of a conflict between whether to care for these mentally ill persons or to preserve their own leisure time.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Nurses as moral practitioners encountering parents in neonatal intensive care units.

Historically, the care of hospitalized children has evolved from being performed in isolation from parents to a situation where the parents and the child are regarded as a unit, and parents and nurses as equal partners in the child's care. Parents are totally dependent on professionals' knowledge and expertise, while nurses are dependent on the children's emotional connection with their parents in order to provide optimal care. Even when interdependency exists, nurses as professionals hold the power to decide whether and to what extent parents should be involved in their child's care. This article focuses on nurses' responsibility to act ethically and reflectively in a collaborative partnership with parents. To illuminate the issue of nurses as moral practitioners, we present an observation of contemporary child care, and discuss it from the perspective of the Danish moral philosopher KE Løgstrup and his book The ethical demand.

Female↗
PubMed1993

Is coma morally equivalent to anencephalia?

In this article I contend that the tendency to equate coma with anencephalia is a mistake. A key idea here is that there is a type of "mental-state" predicate that is applicable to the comatose but not to anencephalics. One of the moral implications of this is that the concept of "brain death," its alleged popularity notwithstanding, is badly confused. Also, because anencephalics have no mental life, there are few moral grounds for hesitating to use anencephalics as organ donors.

Anencephaly↗