Ethics of care and moral resilience in health care practice: A scoping review

Abstract

Background

Ethics of care provides a framework for health care professionals to manage ethical dilemmas and moral resilience may mitigate stress associated with the process and outcomes of ethical reasoning. This review addresses the empirical study of ethics of care and moral resilience, published in the health care literature, and identifies potential research gaps.

Methods and procedure

Arksey O’Malley's framework was adopted to conduct this scoping review. A literature search was conducted across six databases: CINAHL Plus with full text, PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Scopus and MEDLINE. We collected and synthesised information on the nature of studies including study design, methods and key findings.

Results

While there is an abundance of literature describing the potential strengths of an ethics of care approach to ethical reasoning and growing interest in the role of moral resilience in protecting against moral distress, both concepts have received little empirical attention. A total of six relevant publications were selected for review. No studies explored the relationship between ethics of care and moral resilience. However, studies focused upon ethics of care approach as a facilitator of patient-practitioner professional relationships and effective ethical decision making in health care practice. Current evidence explores key characteristics consistent with moral resilience in health care professionals.

Conclusion

This review identified a dearth of research in ethics of care and moral resilience in healthcare practice. Further empirical investigation may provide a deeper understanding of the translation of ethics of care and moral resilience to health care practice to facilitate workplace culture.