J Korean Acad Soc Nurs Educ.  2020 Nov;26(4):366-373. 10.5977/jkasne.2020.26.4.366.

The relationships between moral distress and quality of nursing care in oncology nurses

• Kim SM
• Shin YS

• KMID: 2511047
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5977/jkasne.2020.26.4.366

Abstract

Purpose
The study aimed to investigate the relationship between moral distress and the quality of nursing care.
Methods
This cross-sectional correlation study included nurses working at oncology nursing units of two secondary general hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, Korea. A total of 207 nurses participated. Moral distress was measured by the Moral Distress Scale-Revised Nurse Questionnaire and quality of nursing care was evaluated by the Quality of Oncology Nursing Care Scale. Data were collected from October 5 to 31, 2018. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis.
Results
The quality of oncology nursing care showed a negative correlation with moral distress (r=-.19, p=.007). The factors affecting the quality of oncology nursing care were religion (β=-.22, p=.001), clinical experience in oncology units (β=.27, p=.007), and moral distress (β=-.16, p=.018). Moral distress showed a statistically significant predictive power of 13% in the regression model (F=8.70, p=<.001).
Conclusion
The findings of this study suggest that management of moral distress is important to increase the quality of oncology nursing care.

Keyword

Morals; Oncology nursing; Nurses; 도덕적; 종양 간호; 간호사