Relationship between Moral Distress and Mental Health among Female Nurses

Moral distress could lead to psychological problems. The aim of this study was to determining the relationship between moral distress and mental health in female nurses. It was a descriptive cross- sectional study. The study population consisted of all female nurses working in hospitals of Tabriz city in 2014. A total of 180 nurses were recruited by stratified random sampling using Cochran formula. Data was collected by Moral distress Corley and the (GHQ) General Health Questionnaire and analyzed by Pearson correlation and regression analysis using SPSS-PC (v. 20). There was significant direct relationships between moral distress and GHQ subscales of، somatic symptoms، anxiety and sleep disorders، social dysfunction and depression (P=0. 001). The results of Regression analysis showed that moral distress could predict nurses’ mental health. Given that female nurses'' mental health is predictable by their moral distress، it seems that the results of this study could have important implications regarding the preventive interventions for nurses.