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Job Stress and Ethical Decision-Making Among Healthcare Workers in Post-Pandemic Infectious Disease Control.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Nature Publishing Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101563288 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2045-2322 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20452322 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Rep Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: London : Nature Publishing Group, copyright 2011-
    • Subject Terms:
      Health Personnel*/psychology ; Health Personnel*/ethics ; Occupational Stress*/psychology ; Occupational Stress*/epidemiology ; COVID-19*/epidemiology ; COVID-19*/psychology ; COVID-19*/prevention & control ; Decision Making*/ethics; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Taiwan/epidemiology ; Pandemics ; Empathy ; Morals ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Surveys and Questionnaires
    • Abstract:
      Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Funding: This work was financially supported by the National Science and Technology Council (112-2410-H-038-029-; 113-2410-H-038-034-; 114-2410-H-038 -047 -MY2; 114-2410-H-028 -007 -) and the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan (DP2-TMU-114-N-05).
      In the post-pandemic era, healthcare workers face moral dilemmas balancing individual rights with public health concerns. Taiwan's COVID-19 measures, while effective, have raised privacy concerns, highlighting these challenges. An observational survey of 169 healthcare workers evaluated moral judgment across Non-Moral, Impersonal Moral, and Personal Moral Dilemmas, considering sociodemographic factors, employment details, pandemic experience, empathy, and job stress. The study found job stress significantly impacts moral decision-making. For Impersonal Moral Dilemmas, higher job stress-often resulting from lack of sleep or lower job security-pushes professionals towards utilitarian decisions, possibly due to diminished empathy, indicating a preference for societal benefits over individual welfare. Conversely, in Personal Moral Dilemmas involving personal connections, heightened emotional conflicts arise. A reversed pattern was observed in how job stress affects utilitarian choices based on the dilemma's nature: higher job stress leads to utilitarian choices in impersonal dilemmas, while lower job stress prompts utilitarian sacrifices of personally connected individuals in personal dilemmas. These results underscore the complex relationship between healthcare professionals' psychological well-being, empathy, and work-related stress, highlighting the ethical navigation challenges in healthcare.
      (© 2025. The Author(s).)
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    • Grant Information:
      112-2410-H-038-029 National Science and Technology Council; DP2-TMU-112-A-05 Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Healthcare; Job stress; Moral dilemmas; Utilitarian ethical choices
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20251028 Date Completed: 20251028 Latest Revision: 20251031
    • Publication Date:
      20251031
    • Accession Number:
      PMC12559238
    • Accession Number:
      10.1038/s41598-025-22055-6
    • Accession Number:
      41145801