Moral distress as experienced by hospital social workers in South Korea and Australia

View/ Open
File version
Accepted Manuscript (AM)
Author(s)
Fronek, Patricia
Briggs, Lynne
Kim, Myung Hun
Han, Hye Bin
Val, Quinn
Kim, Sungmin
McAuliffe, Donna
Year published
2017
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This exploratory, qualitative research explored the ethical problems faced by hospital social workers in South Korea and Australia, and what and who influenced their decision making using a focus group design. Although dilemmas of boundaries, confidentiality, self-determination, and other complex scenarios found in practice were identified, moral distress, a consequence of the unresolvable conflicts, dominated participants’ narratives. This was particularly the case for the Korean social workers in this sample. A thematic analysis of the data yielded three main themes: ‘Under pressure—“It’s very uncomfortable”’; ‘Failing our ...
View more >This exploratory, qualitative research explored the ethical problems faced by hospital social workers in South Korea and Australia, and what and who influenced their decision making using a focus group design. Although dilemmas of boundaries, confidentiality, self-determination, and other complex scenarios found in practice were identified, moral distress, a consequence of the unresolvable conflicts, dominated participants’ narratives. This was particularly the case for the Korean social workers in this sample. A thematic analysis of the data yielded three main themes: ‘Under pressure—“It’s very uncomfortable”’; ‘Failing our patients’; and ‘Coping and codes’.
View less >
View more >This exploratory, qualitative research explored the ethical problems faced by hospital social workers in South Korea and Australia, and what and who influenced their decision making using a focus group design. Although dilemmas of boundaries, confidentiality, self-determination, and other complex scenarios found in practice were identified, moral distress, a consequence of the unresolvable conflicts, dominated participants’ narratives. This was particularly the case for the Korean social workers in this sample. A thematic analysis of the data yielded three main themes: ‘Under pressure—“It’s very uncomfortable”’; ‘Failing our patients’; and ‘Coping and codes’.
View less >
Journal Title
Social Work in Health Care
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Taylor & Francis (Routledge). This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Social Work in Health Care on 19 Jul 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/00981389.2017.1347596.
Note
This publication has been entered into Griffith Research Online as an Advanced Online Version.
Subject
Social work
Clinical social work practice