Psycometric characteristics of the Moral Distress Scale in Brazilian nursing professionals

Abstract

The Moral Distress Scale was designed to assess the severity and frequency of the moral distress experienced by nursing professionals in everyday situations. The objective of this study was to analyze the psychometric characteristics of the Moral Distress Scale adapted to Brazilian nursing. Through factor analysis, five constructs were identified: lack of competence in the work team; disregard for patient autonomy, inadequate working conditions, denial of the nursing role as an advocate in terminal patients; denial of the nursing role as an advocate of the patient. The proposed pentafactorial solution is statistically and semantically more appropriate to the Brazilian nursing scenario. Based on these results, the scale is considered to be valid and reliable, showing the necessary requirements regarding convergent and discriminating validity as well as internal consistency to be used while evaluating the intensity and frequency of moral distress in Brazilian nursing professionals.