Have You Ever Been Treated Unfairly At Work?

Researchers Have Linked Injustice At Work To Moral Injury

Moral Injury Was First Studied In The Armed Forces

Civilian Workers Have Reported It As Well

A Large Review Compared Betrayal Across Different Jobs

The Studies Did Not All Use The Same Moral Injury Scale

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The Review Pooled 88 Studies On Work And Moral Injury

A 2018 Analysis Had Already Found Moral Injury In Civilian Jobs

Those Included Journalists And Veterinarians And Police And Teachers

The New Review Covered Nine Job Groups

Armed Forces And Veterans Made Up One Group

Healthcare Workers And First Responders Were Two More

Educators And Journalists Were Also Part Of It

So Were Child Protection Staff And The Unemployed

Public Sector Staff And Mixed Groups Made Up The Rest

Sample Sizes Ranged From 38 People To 14 057

Most Of The 88 Studies Measured People At One Point In Time

Only 10 Of Them Had A Low Risk Of Bias

The Most Used Moral Injury Scale Appeared In 38 Studies

Its Name Is The Moral Injury Events Scale

Researchers Also Counted Events That Could Lead To Moral Injury

They Meant Doing Wrong Or Witnessing Wrong Or Facing Betrayal

Across The Studies 67 Percent Had Faced At Least One Of Those Events

Rates Were Reported For Four Job Groups

At 88 Percent Educators Had The Highest Rate

First Responders Had The Lowest At 58 Percent

That Difference Was Not Statistically Significant

Across The Studies 46 Percent Reported Betrayal At Work

Betrayal Is One Kind Of Event That Can Lead To Moral Injury

In The Armed Forces 33 Percent Reported Betrayal

58 Percent Of Healthcare Workers Reported It

Educators Were Higher Still At 68 Percent

Both Groups Were Significantly Higher Than That 33 Percent

52 Percent Of First Responders Reported Betrayal

That Rate Did Not Differ Significantly From The Armed Forces

The Lowest Betrayal Rate Was 32 Percent In Child Protection Staff

Only One Study Measured That Group

Researchers Also Rated Each Study's Risk Of Bias

In Low Risk Studies 30 Percent Reported Betrayal

Medium Risk Studies Found It At 50 Percent

The Lower Rate In Better Studies Was Statistically Significant

Seeing Someone Else Do Wrong Was Counted Separately

Across The Studies 48 Percent Had Witnessed That

Witnessing Was Lowest In The Armed Forces At 31 Percent

At 92 Percent It Was Highest Among Child Protection Staff

That Rate Was Also Based On A Single Study

The Review Also Counted Wrongs People Committed Themselves

Across The Studies 31 Percent Had Broken Their Own Morals

Post Traumatic Embitterment Disorder Was Also Covered

It Is A Reaction To An Unjust Event

People With It Feel Bitterness And Helplessness And Hostility

It Shares Similar Causes And Symptoms With Moral Injury

Earlier Researchers Asked Patients What Triggered It

73 Percent Said The Trigger Was Related To Work

Across The Studies 26 Percent Had Clinically Relevant Embitterment

Earlier Estimates For The General Population Were 2.5 Percent

In The Studies Embitterment Was 11 Percent At The Strictest Cutoff

Workplace Health Services Could Expect That Share Of Staff

Neither Condition Is Listed In The Main Diagnostic Manuals

Both Conditions Can Still Cause Social Isolation

They Can Also Make It Hard To Keep A Job

The Authors Urged Caution With These Numbers

Results Varied Widely From One Study To The Next

That Kind Of Variation Is Common In Reviews Like This One