Tian Xu, Gan Xiuni, Ren Yi, Li Feili, Herrera Maria F Jimenez, Liu Fangrong
Division of Science & Technology and Foreign Affairs, Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Chongqing, 400020, China.
Department of Nursing, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400010, China.
BMC Nurs. 2024 Jul 4;23(1):456. doi: 10.1186/s12912-024-02127-0.
Moral distress seriously affects professional nurses, and a number of instruments have been developed to measure the level of moral distress. The moral distress thermometer (MDT) is one of the commonly used instruments that can rapidly measure real-time moral distress; however, it remains unclear whether it is still useful in the Chinese cultural context.
This study aimed to adapt and validate the MDT among Chinese registered nurses.
An online, cross-sectional, survey study of adapting and validating Chinese version of MDT.
A total of 182 registered nurses effectively finished this survey. The correlation between MDT score and the score of the moral distress scale-revised version (MDS-R) was used for evaluating convergent validity, and MDT scores of registered nurses who working in different departments and who made different actions to the final question of the MDS-R were compared by using one-way ANOVA to evaluate construct validity.
The Ethics Committee of Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital approved this study.
The Chinese version of MDT was described as relevant to measure moral distress, with a reported item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and scale-level CVI (S-CVI) of 1. The mean MDT score and mean MDS-R score were 2.54 and 38.66, respectively, and the correlation between these two scores was significantly moderate (r = 0.41). Nurses working different departments reported different levels of moral distress, and those working in intensive care unit reported the highest level of moral distress than those working in other departments (p = 0.04). The MDT scores between nurses who presented different actions to their position were also significantly different, and those who had ever left and those who had considered leaving but did not leave reported significantly higher moral distress.
The MDT is a reliable, valid, and easy-to-use instrument to rapidly measure the real-time moral distress of registered nurses in China.
道德困扰严重影响专业护士，并且已经开发了一些工具来测量道德困扰的程度。道德困扰温度计（MDT）是常用的能够快速测量实时道德困扰的工具之一；然而，在中文文化背景下它是否仍然有用尚不清楚。
本研究旨在对中国注册护士改编并验证MDT。
一项关于改编并验证中文版MDT的在线横断面调查研究。
共有182名注册护士有效完成了这项调查。MDT得分与道德困扰量表修订版（MDS-R）得分之间的相关性用于评估收敛效度，通过单因素方差分析比较不同科室工作的注册护士以及对MDS-R最后一个问题采取不同行动的护士的MDT得分，以评估结构效度。
重庆市中医院伦理委员会批准了本研究。
中文版MDT被描述为与测量道德困扰相关，报告的条目级内容效度指数（I-CVI）和量表级CVI（S-CVI）均为1。MDT平均得分和MDS-R平均得分分别为2.54和38.66，这两个得分之间的相关性为中度显著（r = 0.41）。不同科室工作的护士报告的道德困扰水平不同，重症监护室工作的护士报告的道德困扰水平高于其他科室工作的护士（p = 0.04）。对自身处境采取不同行动的护士之间的MDT得分也存在显著差异，那些曾经离职以及那些考虑过离职但未离职者报告的道德困扰显著更高。
MDT是一种可靠、有效且易于使用的工具，可快速测量中国注册护士的实时道德困扰。
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