Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to explore and explicate the nature and lived experience of moral caring by nurse clinicians holding Master's Degrees. The study was conceptualized within Leininger's theory of culture care and used Colaizzi's phenomenological method. The goal was discovery of moral caring knowledge for use in nursing education, practice, and administration settings to promote morally congruent nurse caring and professional satisfaction. ;In this first study using Leininger's theory to discover the nature of moral caring of nurses as culturally constituted, research questions focused on influences of generic and professional experiences on beliefs, patterns, and practices of moral caring. Participants shared narratives of moral caring and not-moral-caring practice situations. The relationship between moral caring and professional satisfaction was explored. Twelve nurse clinicians, including African-Americans, European-Americans, males and females, participated in open-ended, in-depth interviews conducted during 1996--98. ;Five dominant moral caring themes were discovered: moral caring as nursing action emanating from personal and professional characteristics of the nurse and focused on a meaningful nurse-patient relationship, family, religious and philosophical , and professional role modeling influences on the development of a definition and commitment to moral caring, professional experiences of notable personal satisfaction as well as intense moral distress and moral conflict, economic, technological, political/legal, and human environmental influences on nurses' ability to give moral caring, and professional role satisfaction influence on employment patterns. Three constructs were developed from this research: a unified ethic of nurse caring, the pursuit of professional satisfaction, unresolved moral care distress. ;Findings were congruent with tenets of virtue ethics, confirmed Leininger's assumption that care is the essence of nursing, and supported the researcher's speculation that moral caring is a virtue and excellence of nursing. The complementarity of virtue ethics, obligation-based ethics, principle-based ethics, and a relational ethic of care was demonstrated. Social structure dimensions, especially generic and professional values and experiences, were powerful influences on the moral caring practices of participants, thus reaffirming Leininger's theoretical tenets and predictions. The importance of transcultural nursing theory and research was identified throughout the investigation