Violations of Health as a Human Right and Moral Distress: Considerations for Social Work Practice and Education
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Violations of Health as a Human Right and Moral Distress: Considerations for Social Work Practice and Education Christina Bernhardt1 · Shayna Forgetta1 · Kenan Sualp1 Accepted: 12 October 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Healthcare professionals may experience moral distress when navigating difficult positions in which acting or providing for their patient’s best interest may not be possible due to barriers outside of their control. This phenomenon has primarily been investigated within nursing and other clinical disciplines; however, experiences of moral distress have also been noted in the social work profession. Healthcare professionals, including social workers, may experience moral distress when witnessing violations of their patients’ human rights. This article discusses research reporting on experiences of moral distress within the social work profession, a reality social work students may also face during their field placements. Understanding the causes and effects of moral distress within the social work profession is important when preparing social work students as they transition into the workforce. Future research investigating moral distress should include the perspectives of social work field students, as their experiences are understudied. This phenomenon is especially important to investigate, as the current COVID-19 pandemic is expected to exacerbate health challenges. Keywords Moral distress · Health care · Human rights · Social work students · Social workers
Introduction One of the main goals of the social work profession is to uphold and promote the human rights of all persons. This article will highlight the challenges that social work professionals and field students may face when working toward ensuring health as a human right for the patients they serve. Specifically, this paper will discuss the consequences of moral distress, which social workers may experience when health as a human right is not upheld for patients. Moral distress, a term coined by Andrew Jameton (1984), describes a phenomenon in which a clinician understands the correct course of action for their patient, but they are unable to perform such action. Competing responsibilities to uphold professional ethics and meet organizational requirements may impede the ability of the worker to fulfill the action for the patient (Moffat 2014). Moral distress may pose significant challenges for social work professionals and field students;
* Christina Bernhardt [email protected] 1
University of Central Florida, 12805 Pegasus Drive, HPA1 Orlando, FL 32816, USA
thus, better understanding of this concept is imperative for the social work profession.
Human Rights Human rights are universally accepted standards that are secured by multiple international treaties. These rights cover a wide range of liberties including civil, cultural, economic, political, and social (World Health Organization & United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 2008). The Universal Declaration of Hu
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