Understanding the Effect of Moral Transgressions in the Helping Professions: In Search of Conceptual Clarity

There is a vast academic literature on the moral dimensions and ethical dilemmas of what are commonly referred to as the helping professions (e.g., nursing, medicine, social work, counseling, teaching). Over the past several decades, increasing attention has been paid to the issue of moral transgressions perpetrated, witnessed, or experienced by these professionals and their accompanying psychological and social outcomes. Scholars seeking to understand moral transgressions and their effects have proposed and examined a variety of constructs, including moral distress, demoralization, and moral injury. This article examines to what extent constructs related to moral transgressions and their associated psychological, emotional, and social effects overlap and diverge to describe similar or distinct phenomena and proposes a unified conceptual model of moral suffering. Understanding the moral dimensions of the helping professions is critical for effective research and just, ethical practice.