Concept Clarification of Moral Case Deliberation

Abstract

Background: Health care professionals have encountered ethically difficult situations for decades in their clinical practice. Various clinical ethics support has been established in order to deal with these issues. Moral case deliberation is a new developed approach that deliberates over ethically difficult cases in clinical practice. However, there is lack of knowledge that describes the characteristics of the moral case deliberation and how this differs to related clinical ethics support where a concept analysis may clarify the differences. Aim: To analyse the concept of moral case deliberation and related concepts. Methods: Integrative literature review. Rodger’s evolutionary view of concept analysis has been used for clarification of the concept. Using specific keywords in the databases, searching for peer-reviewed academic paper published in English between 1995-2017 in the CINAHL, MEDLINE, Psych Info, Academic Search Elite and AMED. Results: Moral case deliberation (MCD) was defined as an approach with four specific characteristics: 1) Perspective sharing via dialogue, 2) training moral awareness, 3) moral emotional deliberation, and 4) moral support and joint learning. The presence of a facilitator who is trained in a specific method for the MCD reflection seemed to be important when stimulating the discussion from a patient perspective. Conclusions: Clarify the concept of moral case deliberation can be useful for healthcare professionals when choosing a facilitate-base reflection. Through a mutual dialogue and perspective sharing can MCD train staff members in moral awareness, create a space for emotions to be expressed and finally work as an platform for joint learning.