Cultivating Hope and Moral Resilience in Critical Care Nursing: A Practical Theological Tool for Moral Distress and Evidence-Based Practices for Spiritual Health Clinicians

Abstract

This work begins with a review of suffering, death, and dying through a poetic and reflective lens. I then deliberate what it means to be moral agent in light of each, specifically as an ICU nurse tasked with the caring for those who suffer or are dying. However, sometimes nurses are constrained from acting as a moral agent on behalf of their patients, which leads to moral distress (MD). If left unattended to, nurses’ experience of moral distress may develop into moral injury (MI). With a foundation laid, I then pose my primary research question: What evidence-based intervention can spiritual health clinicians (i.e. chaplains) use to effectively care for nurses experiencing MD? The following sections review the history of MD/MI literature in healthcare and nursing, interprets MD/MI with a theology of hope, and evaluates the use of various evidence-based practices, like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, in spiritual care with ICU nurses.