MORAL SENSITIVITY IN PSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE

This study reports the results of a study of Swedish psychiatrists' re sponses to moral statements related to decision making in the psychiat ric context. Use was made of the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire, a mo dified instrument previously constructed from a theory of moral sensit ivity. This Likert-type scale contains 30 items constructed from the f ollowing categories: interpersonal orientation, structuring moral mean ing, benevolence, modifying autonomy, experiencing moral conflict, and trust in medical knowledge and principles of care. The purpose was to identify possible differences in responses rather than to evaluate ri ght or wrong responses. The analysis is based on 754 completed questio nnaires. The results of the study showed some significant differences in the item and category levels; for example, male psychiatrists exper ienced more conflicts than female psychiatrists and agreed to a greate r extent that medical knowledge was most important in deciding what wa s best for the patient. The results also showed that more female than male psychiatrists thought that the relationship with the patient was most important in psychiatric practice.