Psychospiritual developmental risk factors for moral injury

Timothy J. Usset; Erika Gray; Brandon J. Griffin; Joseph M. Currier; Marek S. Kopacz; John H. Wilhelm; J. Irene Harris

doi:10.3390/rel11100484

Psychospiritual developmental risk factors for moral injury

Timothy J. Usset, Erika Gray, Brandon J. Griffin, Joseph M. Currier, Marek S. Kopacz, John H. Wilhelm, J. Irene Harris

Health Policy and Management

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is increasing theoretical, clinical, and empirical support for the hypothesis that psychospiritual development, and more specifically, postconventional religious reasoning, may be related to moral injury. In this study, we assessed the contributions of exposure to potentially morally injurious events, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and psychospiritual development to moral injury symptoms in a sample of military veterans (N = 212). Psychospiritual development was measured as four dimensions, based on Wulff’s theory juxtaposing conventional vs. postconventional levels of religious reasoning, with decisions to be an adherent or a disaffiliate of faith. After controlling for exposure to potentially morally injurious events and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms, veterans who were conventional disaffiliates reported higher scores on the Moral Injury Questionnaire than conventional adherents, postconventional adherents, or postconventional disaffiliates. We conclude that the role of psychospiritual development offers a theoretical approach to moral injury that invites collaboration between social scientists, philosophers, theologians, and medical professionals.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	484
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Number of pages	10
Journal	Religions
Volume	11
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11100484
State	Published - Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This study was funded by a grant from the John and Maria Laffin Trust.

Funding Information:
The Multiscale Measure for Postconventional Spiritual Functioning (MMPSF; Harris and Usset 2017) was designed to combine the psychometric strengths of the Fowler Religious Attitudes Scale-Revised and the Post-Critical Belief Scale (PBS), while addressing the limitations of both. This 55-item Likert-type instrument yields scores in four subscales; Conventional-Adherent (maintains conventional religious reasoning, adheres to faith), Conventional-Disaffiliate (maintains conventional religious reasoning, disaffiliates from faith), Postconventional-Adherent (maintains postconventional religious reasoning, adheres to faith) and Postconventional-Disaffiliate (maintains postconventional religious reasoning, disaffiliates from faith). Coefficient alphas were as follows: Conventional Adherent (0.89), Conventional Disaffiliate (0.93), Postconventional Adherent (0.79) and Postconventional Disaffiliate (0.81) (Harris and Usset 2017). Construct validity was supported by an anticipated pattern of correlations with the Fowler Religious Attitudes Scale-Revised (Harris and Leak 2013).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

Moral distress
Moral injury
PTSD
Psychospiritual development
Religious functioning
Spiritual distress
Spirituality

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10.3390/rel11100484

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abstract = "There is increasing theoretical, clinical, and empirical support for the hypothesis that psychospiritual development, and more specifically, postconventional religious reasoning, may be related to moral injury. In this study, we assessed the contributions of exposure to potentially morally injurious events, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and psychospiritual development to moral injury symptoms in a sample of military veterans (N = 212). Psychospiritual development was measured as four dimensions, based on Wulff{\textquoteright}s theory juxtaposing conventional vs. postconventional levels of religious reasoning, with decisions to be an adherent or a disaffiliate of faith. After controlling for exposure to potentially morally injurious events and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms, veterans who were conventional disaffiliates reported higher scores on the Moral Injury Questionnaire than conventional adherents, postconventional adherents, or postconventional disaffiliates. We conclude that the role of psychospiritual development offers a theoretical approach to moral injury that invites collaboration between social scientists, philosophers, theologians, and medical professionals.",

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note = "Funding Information: Funding: This study was funded by a grant from the John and Maria Laffin Trust. Funding Information: The Multiscale Measure for Postconventional Spiritual Functioning (MMPSF; Harris and Usset 2017) was designed to combine the psychometric strengths of the Fowler Religious Attitudes Scale-Revised and the Post-Critical Belief Scale (PBS), while addressing the limitations of both. This 55-item Likert-type instrument yields scores in four subscales; Conventional-Adherent (maintains conventional religious reasoning, adheres to faith), Conventional-Disaffiliate (maintains conventional religious reasoning, disaffiliates from faith), Postconventional-Adherent (maintains postconventional religious reasoning, adheres to faith) and Postconventional-Disaffiliate (maintains postconventional religious reasoning, disaffiliates from faith). Coefficient alphas were as follows: Conventional Adherent (0.89), Conventional Disaffiliate (0.93), Postconventional Adherent (0.79) and Postconventional Disaffiliate (0.81) (Harris and Usset 2017). Construct validity was supported by an anticipated pattern of correlations with the Fowler Religious Attitudes Scale-Revised (Harris and Leak 2013). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",

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Psychospiritual developmental risk factors for moral injury

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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