The correlation between Moral Distress and Caring Behaviors of Nurses in Intensive Care Units of Bandar Abbas Hospitals in 2018

One of the most common ethical issues in nursing profession is moral distress which causes discomfort and impedes nurses proper moral performance, despite having sufficient knowledge. Moral distress disturbs the relationship between nurse and patient which leads to the decreased quality of care. Caring behaviors greatly contribute to improving the quality of care and patient safety. The present study aimed to determine the correlation between moral distress and caring behaviors of nurses in intensive care units of Bandar Abbas hospitals in 2018. This was a descriptive correlational study that was performed on 173 nurses working in ICU and NICU departments of Bandar Abbas hospitals. The data collection tools were demographic information questionnaire, the moral distress scale of nurses of intensive care units, and nursing Caring Behaviors Inventory. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 20. Moral distress in nurses in the intensive care unit was in the middle range (1.75 ± 0.81 of 4 score). Also, the mean score of nurses' caring behavior was 5.28 ± 0.48 of 6 score which was considered as an acceptable level. There was a significant negative correlation between moral distress and caring behavior (r = -0.150, P = 0.049). Regarding the importance of moral distress, as well as the role of caring behaviors in improving the quality of care of nurses and satisfaction of patients, it seems necessary that nurses get more familiarized with this concept and attempts to provide solutions for coping and reducing moral distress and improving nurses' caring behaviors.