The Relationship between Moral Distress and Self-Efficacy among Nurses in Critical Care and Emergency Units in Hospitals Affiliated to Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in 2015

Moral distress is one of the major problems of nurses, which may happen due to various reasons. Moral distress has several consequences such as, low self-esteem, job dissatisfaction and depression. Nurses in critical care units and emergency departments experience more moral distress situations because of their special work. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between moral distress and self-efficacy among nurses in critical care units and emergency department. This is a cross-sectional study in type of descriptive-analytic that was conducted on 185 critical care units and emergency nurses in Ahvaz educational hospitals that were selected by survey method in 2015. Data was collected by demographic questionnaire, Corley moral distress scale and Riggs self-efficacy questionnaire. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation test. Findings showed that moral distress and self-efficacy levels in critical care and emergency nurses were moderate. There was a significant relation between intensity of moral distress (p=0.04, r= - 0.14) and frequency of moral distress (p=0.01, r= - 0.19) with nurses’ perceived self-efficacy. Regarding the reverse significant relationship between moral distress with perceived self-efficacy in nurses, developing some strategies to control nurses moral distress can probably improve their self-efficacy and professional competencies.