Sources of moral injury among war veterans: A qualitative evaluation
Journal of Clinical Psychology
Published online on July 09, 2018
Abstract
---
- |2+
Abstract
Objective
Service members deployed to war are at risk for moral injury, but the potential sources of moral injury are poorly understood. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the types of events that veterans perceive as morally injurious and to use those events to develop a categorization scheme for combat‐related morally injurious events.
Method
Six focus groups with US war veterans were conducted.
Results
Analysis based on Grounded Theory yielded two categories (and eight subcategories) of events that putatively cause moral injury. The two categories were defined by the focal attribution of responsibility for the event: Personal Responsibility (veteran's reported distress is related to his own behavior) versus Responsibility of Others (veteran's distress is related to actions taken by others). Examples of each type of morally injurious event are provided.
Conclusions
Implications for the further development of the moral injury construct and treatment are discussed.
- Journal of Clinical Psychology, EarlyView.