Academic Moral Resilience: From Conceptualization to Assessment

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RAHPEIMA SAMIRA; JOWKAR BAHRAM; HOSSEINCHARI MASOUD; KHORMAEI FARHAD

Title

Academic Moral Resilience: From Conceptualization to Assessment

Author(s)

RAHPEIMA SAMIRA | JOWKAR BAHRAM | HOSSEINCHARI MASOUD | KHORMAEI FARHAD | Issue Writer Certificate

Keywords

Not Registered.

Abstract

Introduction First coined by Andrew Jameton (1984), moral distress refers to the stress caused by intending to pursue a morally preferred action but being unable to do so because of barriers. Although there is a large body of research devoted to moral distress that primarily describes the negative outcomes of morally stressful situations, there is no widely used phrase to describe the opposite: the positive outcomes of morally distressing situations. Hence, in recent years, researchers have begun to study morally distressful situations from opposite side and as an opportunity to develop moral resilience. Based on recent research, moral resilience can be described from three main perspectives. In the first perspective, moral resilience is believed to enable a person to navigate a morally complex situation. Moral resilience can, therefore, reduce negative consequences, including moral distress. Johnson (2011), for example, describes moral resilience as a coping strategy, which allows a person to reframe a moral situation into a challenge over which the person has a level of control. Similarly, Monteverde (2014b) explains how moral resilience helps individuals deal with morally stressful situations by helping individuals manage moral complexity. In the second perspective, moral resilience is regarded as a slight variation of the fifth antecedent theme, which states that a lower amount of perceived moral distress in a given situation leads to moral resilience. The lowering of perceived moral distress not only leads to moral resilience, but in the active sense, is moral resilience itself. Monteverde defines moral resilience as “ a reduction of moral distress in a given axis of time measured by a validated tool” (Monteverde, 2014a). By this definition, it is hard to pinpoint conceptually whether the moral resilience of an individual is fostered after moral distress has decreased or whether the two phenomena are simultaneously occurring. For this reason, we listed this theme as both an antecedent and an attribute. In the third perspective, moral resilience is defined as the ability to hold true to one’ s values and convictions in order to do what is morally correct, a key feature of integrity. Oser and Reichenbach (2005) explain moral resilience as resisting the temptation and pressure to be successful and instead, putting aside success to live up to ones convictions. Although their focus is outside health care, the authors consider attorneys who risk the outcome of their case out of a drive to be honest. This would put aside larger success in order to adhere to their moral convictions. To them, moral resilience is attempting to bring good under conditions of risk (Oser & Reichenbach, 2005). Baratz (2015) also explains the importance of adhering to moral principles at all costs and explains moral resilience as the ability of an individual to cope with situations using values that he or she believes in, even when it is difficult to do so. These descriptions point to integrity as a critical attribute. Little research has been done on moral resilience, and the ones that have been conducted were limited to the field of medicine and the moral adversity in this field. Moreover, these studies have only addressed the conceptualization of moral resilience but have not focused on the operationalization of this construct; besides, in all these studies moral resilience was measured only in terms of moral distress scale constructs (Monteverde, 2016). Therefore, to address the stated gaps in the literature, the present study aimed to conceptualize moral resilience in the context of academic moral adversity. In this regard, the study introduces a new construct called “ academic moral resilience” and provides a tool for measuring it and determining its psychometric properties. Academic moral resilience conceptualized as a new dimension of the moral resilience construct is defined as the capacity to maintain and restore integrity in the face of moral adversity in the field of education. Research Questions or Hypothesis Does academic moral resilience scale have a desirable validity and reliability? Methods Inspired by the available tools for measuring moral distress, the 26-item academic moral resilience scale was developed by interviewing students and reviewing professional ethics codes in education. In order to investigate the psychometric properties of the scale, 500 student (330 girls and 170 boys) at Shiraz University were selected using the random cluster sampling method to respond to the academic moral resilience scale. Moreover, to investigate the convergent validity of the scale, Connor Davidson resilience scale, moral efficacy, moral identity, shame and guilt feeling and moral disengagement scales were used. Results The results of the exploratory factor analysis using principal components method with varimax rotation indicated three factors in the scale that were named disrespect, lack of commitment, unjustness and unfairness respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis results also confirmed the three-factor structure of the academic moral resilience scale. The convergent validity of the scale also confirmed the construct validity of the scale. Correspondingly, Cronbach’ s alpha coefficient for disrespect, lack of commitment, unjustness, unfairness, and the total scores were 0/85, 0/82, 0/70 and 0/89. Discussion and Conclusion Overall, the results confirmed the construct validity and desirable reliability of the scale. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed three factors in the scale. Apparently, justice, respect for others, and commitment were the most important moral values among the students whose violation could make them morally distressed. Moreover, based on the results, there was a positive correlation between academic moral resilience and moral efficacy, feeling of guilt, resiliency, and moral identity. On the other hand, there was a negative correlation between academic moral resilience and moral disengagement and sense of shame. These results confirm the convergent validity of the academic moral resilience scale. The findings, hereby, corroborated the construct validity as well as the reliability of the academic moral resilience scale. This provides the basis for using this scale in future research and can open new ways for expanding and conducting researches on moral adversity in educational contexts.

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APA: Copy

RAHPEIMA, SAMIRA, JOWKAR, BAHRAM, HOSSEINCHARI, MASOUD, & KHORMAEI, FARHAD. (2020). Academic Moral Resilience: From Conceptualization to Assessment. STUDIES IN LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION (JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES OF SHIRAZ UNIVERSITY), 11(2 (77-2) ), 88-114. SID. https://sid.ir/paper/371696/en

Vancouver: Copy

RAHPEIMA SAMIRA, JOWKAR BAHRAM, HOSSEINCHARI MASOUD, KHORMAEI FARHAD. Academic Moral Resilience: From Conceptualization to Assessment. STUDIES IN LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION (JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES OF SHIRAZ UNIVERSITY)[Internet]. 2020;11(2 (77-2) ):88-114. Available from: https://sid.ir/paper/371696/en

IEEE: Copy

SAMIRA RAHPEIMA, BAHRAM JOWKAR, MASOUD HOSSEINCHARI, and FARHAD KHORMAEI, “Academic Moral Resilience: From Conceptualization to Assessment,” STUDIES IN LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION (JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES OF SHIRAZ UNIVERSITY), vol. 11, no. 2 (77-2) , pp. 88–114, 2020, [Online]. Available: https://sid.ir/paper/371696/en

Scientific Information Database

ISSN: 2588-4824

Journal Paper

Academic Moral Resilience: From Conceptualization to Assessment