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Spiritual assessment of patients with cancer: the moral authority, vocational, aesthetic, social, and transcendent model.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To explore the nature of spiritual care in patients with cancer and discuss the Moral Authority, Vocational, Aesthetic, Social, and Transcendent (Mor-VAST) Model, a new theoretical model for assessment. DATA SOURCES: Published articles, online references. DATA SYNTHESIS: Discussions regarding spirituality often do not occur for a variety of reasons but may affect physical and spiritual health of an individual. CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of spirituality should be an integral part of cancer care. The Mor-VAST model can assist clinicians in discussing spirituality. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Nurses should be aware of resources for referral to chaplaincy, but they can be a part of the process of spiritual support. Educational opportunities are available for nurses who wish to address their own spirituality so they can address spirituality comfortably and confidently with their patients.

Chaplaincy Service, Hospital↗

Moral agency in nursing: seeing value in the work and believing that I make a difference.

The subject of this article is moral agency in nursing, studied by the use of an applied philosophical method. It draws upon nurses' accounts of how they see intrinsic value in their work and believe that they make a difference to patients in terms that leave their patients feeling better. The analysis is based on the philosophy of Iris Murdoch to reveal how nurses' accounts demonstrated that they hold a view of themselves and their professional practice that is intrinsically linked to, and dependent upon, their capacity to see good in the work they do.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Invisibility, moral knowledge and nursing work in the writings of Joan Liaschenko and Patricia Rodney.

The ethical 'eye' of nursing, that is, the particular moral vision and values inherent in nursing work, is constrained by the preoccupations and practices of the superordinate biomedical structure in which nursing as a practice discipline is embedded. The intimate, situated knowledge of particular persons who construct and attach meaning to their health experience in the presence of and with the active participation of the nurse, is the knowledge that provides the evidence for nurses' ethical decision making. It is largely invisible to all but other nurses. Two nurse researchers, Joan Liaschenko of the University of Minnesota and Patricia Rodney of the University of Victoria, have investigated the ethical concerns of practising nurses and noted in their separate enquiries the invisible nature of critical aspects of nursing work. Noting the similarities in their respective observations, and with the feminist ethics of Margaret Urban Walker as a theoretical framework, this article examines the concept of 'invisibility' as it relates to nursing work and nursing ethics.

Ethics, Nursing↗

Moral community and animal research in medicine.

The invocation of moral rights in moral/social debate today is a recipe for deadlock in our consideration of substantive issues. How we treat animals and humans in part should derive from the value of their lives, which is a function of the quality of their lives, which in turn is a function of the richness of their lives. Consistency in argument requires that humans with a low quality of life should be chosen as experimental subjects over animals with a higher quality of life.

Anencephaly↗

The death of Loving: maternal identity as moral constraint in a narrative testimonial advocating physician assisted suicide.

This article considers the narrative testimonial as a rhetorical form in the service of public judgment, with particular attention to the witness's credibility and communicative competence. The author argues that a narrator and witness, as a participant-observer of the events recounted, must generate a story that does not compromise her credibility as a moral agent within the text, and that the capacity to do so is largely a function of communicative competence. Carol Loving's recent book concerning her son's physician assisted suicide is critically assessed to illustrate the primary argument. The critique attempts to show that she neither creates a substantial argument for physician assisted suicide, nor does she warrant her role as a spokesperson for the issue because her narrative violates formative features of maternal identity. Loving's narrative also unintentionally reveals motivational clusters that conflict with and compromise the primary argument, thereby subverting the process of persuasive appeal. Whereas mothers are often mediators for their children in health matters ranging from colds, to psychiatric issues, to matters of death and dying, the failure of Carol Loving in this text, as well as its analysis, should be instructive and cautionary to health professionals who rely on maternal discourse in handling patients, as well as audiences who rely on narrative testimonials as content in their deliberation of public issues.

Adult↗

A nonconformist account of the Asch experiments: values, pragmatics, and moral dilemmas.

This article offers a new approach to Asch's (1956) influential studies relating physical and social perception. Drawing on research on values, conversational pragmatics, cross-cultural comparisons, and negotiation, the authors challenge the normative assumptions that have led psychologists to interpret the studies in terms of conformity. A values-pragmatics account is offered that suggests that participants attempt to realize multiple values (e.g., truth, social solidarity) in an inherently frustrating situation by tacitly varying patterns of dissent and agreement to communicate larger scale truths and cooperative intentions. Alternative theories (e.g., embarrassment, attribution) are compared and empirical implications of the values-pragmatics account are evaluated. The possibility of multiple strategies promoting group survival and the proper role of moral evaluation in social psychological research are considered.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗

A moral dilemma: killing and letting die.

Most health care professionals believe that there is a clear difference between killing and letting die, i.e. between active and passive euthanasia. Philosophers, however, have repeatedly attacked the moral validity of their argument. This article explores various related issues and theoretical approaches to the distinction between acts and omissions.

Beneficence↗

Maintaining nurses' job satisfaction and morale.

In this article those factors which influence the job satisfaction and morale of nurses are considered. It is suggested that action is needed if the profession is to continue to grow and develop.

Humans↗

Developing nursing's future role. 2: Nurses' job satisfaction and morale.

This, the second of two articles, presents the results of a recent survey of nurses' job satisfaction and morale undertaken at the Northern General Hospital NHS Trust, Sheffield. The survey was conducted in order to provide a benchmark against which to gauge progress towards creating a work environment in which nurses are able to exercise maximum autonomy within a supportive and enabling culture. The results mirror recent national reports which highlight the increasing tension between workload pressures and the desire to provide holistic patient care. A number of factors were identified which suggest the need for remedial action across a range of fronts. Such factors are briefly described, together with the action taken to date to address the issues raised.

England↗

A perspective for understanding moral commitment: the physicians' case.

For an exchange to occur in a commercial setting between a salesperson and a customer is one thing; for an exchange to occur in a health care setting between a physician and a patient is another matter. Traditional marketing exchange literature is mostly concerned about discrete relationships in commercial settings. Such concern has encouraged a narrow view of loyalty toward the customer. This paper borrows ideas from marketing and other related sources, and examines the physician's commitment to the patient, stressing in the process the importance of moral commitment.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Homophobia and the moral authority of medicine.

This essay identifies ways in which medicine expresses and legitimizes homophobic values. Examples of such homophobia are identified in the treatment of people with HIV, moralistic interpretations of people with AIDS, certain conceptions about ways in which HIV is transmitted, media representations of AIDS, and even in the way in which medicine's "objectivity" reinforces a moral view inimical to gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. It is concluded that the notion of medical objectivity and traditional conceptions of the ethics of health care hinder an appreciation of the ways in which medicine presumes and perpetuates homophobic values.

Adult↗

Community in gay male experience and moral discourse.

The three sociological conceptions of community are outlined: the imagined community, community as friendship, and community as local organizations or groups. The extent to which gay men in New York City experience a gay community in each of these ways is investigated by means of in-depth interviews. The type of moral discourse utilized by the gay men interviewed is also discussed. Finally, gay men in New York City are compared to the new Russian Jewish community in Brooklyn as to which is more "postmodern."

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Homosexual signification: a moral construct in social contexts.

Contemporary attempts to define homophobia argue that it is a composite prejudice reflecting attitudes toward masculinity, sexual license, and social norms. Influenced by studies of other forms of prejudice, researchers have focused on trying to identify characteristics of a "homophobic personality". Strategies to reduce homophobia emphasize education and tolerance. There has yet to be an engaged, respectful discussion of the validity of the fears which constitute the phobia in homophobia. This paper suggests a taxonomy of moral themes which recur in arguments against homosexuality. Judeo-Christian writers quote the scriptural proscription of male anal intercourse and the particularly Christian notion of homosexuality as sin (although it is but one particular in a general denunciation of all non-reproductive sexual acts). Secular concern with masculinity, sex and gender role conformity is also a source of homophobic angst. The contention that homosexual acts are against nature is premised on the biological imperative toward reproduction of the species. It does not address the possibility that human sexuality may have other ends and it certainly is not against an individual nature. Clerical and civic authority exist to maintain social order and to restrain individual license and that to justify the establishment of a normative sexuality. Among marginalized groups, the practice of exclusive homosexuality may provoke fears of ethnic extinction. Lastly, homosexuality has a history associated with social evils, debauchery, prostitution, criminality and pathology. That heritage still affects the desirability or fear of identification as a homosexual or association with homosexuals. It is my intent that this paper will contribute to understanding the etiology of antagonistic attitudes toward homosexuality and promote an overdue acceptance.

Christianity↗

Space invaders: the moral-spatial order in neighbour dispute discourse.

This paper investigates the interactional construction of neighbour relationships in the context of disputational talk. Neighbour dispute data were recorded in two contexts: community mediation and televised documentaries. The data were transcribed and subsequently analysed using an approach that combined ethnomethodological methods with discursive psychology, focusing on participants' orientations to and constructions of spatial categories and place formulations. Three broad themes emerged from our analysis. First, we found that the construction and regulation of normative neighbour relationships were formulated in a discourse of spatial practice. Second, we found that, through complaints about spatial transgressions and 'good' and 'bad' neighbours, the moral order was reproduced and maintained. Finally, we found that, although participants were oriented to a distinction between 'private' and 'public' spaces, talk about boundaries revealed the highly contingent nature of spatial division. We suggest that in order to better understand neighbour relationships, social psychologists must explore the way people construct and account for the spaces they interact within.

Communication↗

Managed care at the bedside: how do we look in the moral mirror?

Managed care per se is a morally neutral concept; however, as practiced today, it raises serious ethical issues at the clinical, managerial, and social levels. This essay focuses on the ethical issues that arise at the bedside, looking first at the ethical conflicts faced by the physician who is charged with responsibility for care of the patient and then turning to the way in which managed care exacts costs that are measured not in dollars but in compromises in the caring dimensions of the patient-physician relationship.

Altruism↗

Reflections on "Nursing considered as moral practice.

This response to the preceding article by Gastmans, Dierckx de Casterle, and Schotsmans challenges the notion of "good care" as the ultimate goal of nursing practice, explores further the possible goals of nursing and how they may be identified, and presents six elements of professional caring along with their related virtues and moral obligations.

Altruism↗

Patently controversial: markets, morals, and the President's proposal for embryonic stem cell research.

This essay considers the implications of President George W. Bush's proposal for human embryonic stem cell research. Through the perspective of patent law, privacy, and informed consent, we elucidate the ongoing controversy about the moral standing of human embryonic stem cells and their derivatives and consider how the inconsistencies in the president's proposal will affect clinical practice and research.

Biomedical Research↗

Bioethics as politics: the limits of moral expertise.

The increasing reliance upon, and perhaps the growing public and professional skepticism about, the special expertise of bioethicists suggests the need to consider the limits of moral expertise. For all the talk about method in bioethics, we, bioethicists, are still rather far off the mark in understanding what we are doing, even when we may be going about what we are doing fairly well. Quite often, what is most fundamentally at stake, but equally often insufficiently acknowledged, are inherently political, essentially contested visions of the most compelling and attractive forms of life for individuals and social organization. The current situation in bioethics parallels similar debates in eighteenth-century jurisprudence, especially Jeremy Bentham's withering critique of the prevalent forms of judicial argument and his own, equally unsuccessful, attempt to develop a decision-making procedure in ethics that would operate on a plane above politics. The risk, both then and now, is that we will fail to appreciate the wide range of reasonable disagreement that will remain past the point of extended reflection and discussion.

Advisory Committees↗