Moral Injury in Nurses New to Mental Health: An Exploratory New Zealand Study.

Abstract

In 2023, a collaborative research project was designed to explore a purposive sample of new graduate mental health nurses' experiences of moral injury. The project aimed to examine the participants' experiences of moral injury, identify the types of moral injury experienced and to use findings to enhance the content on professional resiliency in a postgraduate nursing programme. A qualitative research design was employed, with two focus groups and an individual interview conducted. Due to limited understandings of the term moral injury, the research team initially decided the study had failed to meet the aims and objectives. Nevertheless, after detailed comments from a conscientious reviewer, we revisited our results and realised that the participants had discussed moral distress and injury in their workplaces. This article explores a sample of new to mental health practice nurses' experiences of moral injury, while also exploring the researchers' evolving understandings of the term over the course of the project. Ideally documenting our experiences may help others who are relatively new to studying moral injury in nursing cohorts, particularly those in mental health.