ArticleJournal of public health (Oxford, England)2023
Moral distress and injury in the public health professional workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Journal of public health (Oxford, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Suffering in silence: Stigma, healthcare barriers, and resilience during Sierra Leone's 2025 clade IIb mpox outbreak-A multi-perspective qualitative study.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Evaluation of a large-scalePreventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- International healthcare workers' experiences and perceptions of the 2022 multi-country mpox outbreak.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- 'Telling them "that's what it says in the guidance" didn't feel good enough': moral distress during the pandemic in UK public health professionals.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is growing concern about moral distress and injury associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in healthcare professions. This study aimed to quantify the nature, frequency, severity and duration of the problem in the public health professional workforce.
methodsBetween 14 December 2021 and 23 February 2022, Faculty of Public Health (FPH) members were surveyed about their experiences of moral distress before and during the pandemic.
resultsIn total, 629 FPH members responded, of which, 405 (64%; 95% confidence interval [95%CI] = 61-68%) reported one or more experience of moral distress associated with their own action (or inaction), and 163 (26%; 95%CI = 23-29%) reported experiencing moral distress associated with a colleague's or organization's action (or inaction) since the start of the pandemic. The majority reported moral distress being more frequent during the pandemic and that the effects endured for over a week. In total, 56 respondents (9% of total sample, 14% of those with moral distress), reported moral injury severe enough to require time off work and/or therapeutic help.
conclusionsMoral distress and injury are significant problems in the UK public health professional workforce, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is urgent need to understand the causes and potential options for its prevention, amelioration and care.
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