The Role of Moral Distress on Burnout and Spiritual Well-Being Among Clinical Healthcare Professionals

Clinical healthcare professionals often encounter situations in the workplace that create moral distress, influence spiritual well-being, and lead to the development of burnout. Much of the current research focuses on healthcare employees’ experiences with burnout and morality at work during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically among Asian and Middle Eastern populations. Gaps that exist in the current research include an examination of moral distress among clinical healthcare professionals in the United States in the post-COVID-19 era and an examination of the relationships between moral distress, burnout, and spiritual well-being. The current study aims to fill the gaps in the research by utilizing a quantitative correlational design to examine the relationships between moral distress, burnout, and spiritual well-being among clinical healthcare professionals in the United States. One hundred three participants completed a 70-item survey, which included items from the Measure of Moral Distress for Healthcare Professionals, the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel, and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Multiple linear regression with an interaction term determined that as moral distress increases, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization increase, even when spiritual well-being is considered. However, the interaction effect between moral distress and spiritual well-being was not significant for any of the burnout dimension models. Pearson’s product-moment correlations determined significant relationships between spiritual well-being and the dimensions of burnout, as well as between spiritual well-being and moral distress.