El lenguaje político de la angustia moral: Part II

Abstract

In The political language of moral distress Part I, I proposed a social justice framework for understanding moral distress. Moral distress is defined as “the experience of being seriously compromised as a moral agent in practicing in accordance with accepted professional values and standards. It is a relational experience shaped by multiple contexts, including the socio-political and cultural context of the workplace environment” (Varcoe, Pauly, Webster & Storch, 2012, p. 59). In Part I, I argued that we must politicize the notion of moral distress by critically reflecting on its roots in wider intertwined social, cultural, political, and economic contexts. Rather than individualize moral distress as inadequacy or weakness, I suggested that we consider how systemic and structural injustice affects us as social workers and as citizens. This includes the role of injustice and structural violence in our mental health and substance use. In this piece, I explore my lived experience of moral distress and propose collective advocacy as a way to counter powerlessness and move beyond the individualization of ethical struggle to recognize moral distress as a collective issue.