Ethical decision-making about older adults and moral intensity: an international study of physicians

Through discourse with international groups of physicians, we conducted a cross-cultural analysis of the types of ethical dilemmas physicians face. Qualitative analysis was used to categorise the dilemmas into seven themes, which we compared among the physicians by country of practice. These themes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical ethics 2008-04, Vol.34 (4), p.285-296
Main Authors: Malloy, D C, Williams, J, Hadjistavropoulos, T, Krishnan, B, Jeyaraj, M, McCarthy, E F, Murakami, M, Paholpak, S, Mafukidze, J, Hillis, B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Aged
Analysis
Aristotelean ethics
Attitude of Health Personnel
Bioethics
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Culture
Decision making
Decision Making - ethics
Deontological ethics
Ethical aspects
Ethical dilemmas
Focus groups
Health care industry
Health Care Rationing - ethics
Humans
Medical ethics
Medical students
Morality
Morals
Older adults
Patients
Physician-Patient Relations
Physicians
Physicians - ethics
Physicians - psychology
Qualitative Research
Research Ethics
Social ethics
Statistics as Topic
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Summary:Through discourse with international groups of physicians, we conducted a cross-cultural analysis of the types of ethical dilemmas physicians face. Qualitative analysis was used to categorise the dilemmas into seven themes, which we compared among the physicians by country of practice. These themes were a-theoretically-driven and grounded heavily within the text. We then subjected the dilemmas to an analysis of moral intensity, which represents an important (albeit novel within healthcare research) theoretical perspective of ethical decision making. These constructs (ie, culture and moral intensity) represent salient determinants of ethical behaviour and our cross-cultural sample afforded us the opportunity to consider both the pragmatic aspects of culture, as they are perceived by physicians, as well as the theory-driven concept of moral intensity. By examining both culture and moral intensity, we hope to better elucidate the complexities of ethical decision-making determinants among physicians in their daily practice. Doing so may potentially have practical implications for ethics training of medical students and foreign physicians.
ISSN:0306-6800
1473-4257
DOI:10.1136/jme.2006.019273