Background: Morally challenging situations may lead to moral distress, when healthcare workers feel unable to act in line with their professional or ethical values. Moral distress among birth unit workers affects well-being and safety of care. Understanding how workers cope is essential for developing preventive strategies. Aim: To explore how healthcare workers on birth units use personal and organisational strategies to manage morally challenging situations, and how this can be interpreted through the Theory of Collective Capacity for Emotionally Charged Work.
Methods: Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare workers from seven birth units, including two university and five non-university hospitals. Participants included midwives (n = 10), physicians (n = 6), and assistant nurses (n = 4). The deductive content analysis was informed by the Theory of Collective Capacity for Emotionally Charged Work.
Results: Participants described interpersonal rather than organisational strategies for managing morally challenging situations. When strategies and conditions aligned, participants managed these situations, improving well-being and care safety. All components of the original model were identified, although some required expansion to fit the context of moral distress. Additional conditions, including personal resources and long-term adaptation, were identified.
Conclusions: Birth unit workers mainly managed morally challenging situations through collegial and interpersonal strategies, while structured organisational support was limited. The Theory of Collective Capacity for Emotionally Charged Work was useful for understanding these strategies and the conditions that enabled them, but required extension to reflect the specific emotional, moral, and organisational features of moral distress in birth units.
Key message: Managing moral distress in birth units relies on strategies of seeking confirmation, building collegiality, and creating space for emotional recovery and is supported by conditions such as task quality, influence on the core task, organisational resources, personal resources, and long-term adaptation. However, the findings indicate a lack of organisational support structures to enable these strategies.
Objectives
This study examined the key factors associated with psychotherapists' attitudes toward online therapy, with particular focus on therapeutic orientation, age, years of professional experience, prior technological experience, and perceived patient openness. Conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the study was based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology for Therapists (UTAUT-T) framework to better understand therapists' acceptance of online therapeutic modalities.
Method
The study involved 387 psychotherapists representing various therapeutic approaches, who completed an online self-report questionnaire. The instruments used included the UTAUT-T questionnaire, a custom use behavior questionnaire, and a demographic survey.
Results
The final sample included 387 psychotherapists. The multivariate test showed significant differences between therapeutic orientations, F(24, 1468) = 3.39, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.05 [0.02, 0.06]. Psychodynamic therapists consistently reported a more negative attitude toward therapy than cognitive-behavioral, systemic, humanistic, or therapists representing other therapeutic orientations. These differences were particularly pronounced for Professional Support (e.g., psychodynamic vs. CBT, t = −7.75, p < 0.001, d = 1.20[0.86; 1.52]) and for the total UTAUT-T score (e.g., t = −5.48, p < 0.001, d = 0.87[0.54; 1.18]). Prior technological experience and perceived patient openness were both positively associated with therapists' attitudes toward online therapy (both p < 0.001), whereas age and years of professional experience were not significantly associated with technology acceptance.
Conclusions
The study highlights the crucial role of therapeutic orientation, prior experience with technology, and perceived patient openness in shaping therapists' acceptance of online therapy. These results underscore the need for targeted training and support to facilitate the successful integration of digital technologies into routine psychotherapeutic practice. Future research should continue to explore these dynamics under non-crisis conditions to ensure the sustainable development of online therapy services.
Pozostałe osiągnięcia naukoweArtykuły (zamknięty dostęp)Journal article
The article focuses on the analysis of the “production turn” in Polish film studies, discussing its consequences for ontology and epistemology and situating it within the broader, international context of the subdiscipline. Drawing on an analysis of the existing literature and empirical research experience, the article postulates the deepening of theoretical frameworks through the application of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), utilizing Marcin Adamczak’s proposed extended production chain. The goal here is to indicate a potential development path for the subdiscipline that avoids the pitfalls of pure market pragmatism and the descriptiveness of individual experiences, while simultaneously attempting to give it broader, social significance, connecting the analysis of production practices with reflection on reception and its cultural determinants, within clearer humanities perspetive.
This article examines the contemporary condition of Polish documentary cinema from a socio-cultural perspective, focusing on the tension between social and artistic mission and the demands of the audiovisual market. Drawing on interviews with film industry professionals, observations conducted during film-related events, and institutional data, it is argued that documentary filmmaking operates under conditions of limited commercial potential and strong dependence on mechanisms of public support. Based on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the social field, the milieu of documentary filmmakers is interpreted as a relatively autonomous field in cultural production, characterized by a shared habitus, symbolic capital, and a similar value system. The analysis demonstrates that success within the Polish documentary sector is more often defined by professional recognition, festival visibility, and social impact than by economic profitability. Consequently, documentary cinema remains an important site of cultural and social value production that cannot be perceived solely in market categories.
Purpose
Many women report experiences of street harassment during their lifetime. Previous quantitative survey research has shown the variety of ways in which this type of harassment can impact upon a victim’s life, including restricting their freedom of movement and fear of further victimisation. The purpose of this study is understand the immediate and enduring psychological impact of street harassment on female victim-survivors.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study aims to explore, qualitatively, women’s experiences of street harassment through thematic analysis of on 35 online blog posts. Data were collected from the “Stop Street Harassment” website, where women are invited to share their experiences anonymously.
Findings
Three main themes were generated from the data. First was the age at which women began to experience street harassment, with recurring early incidents during formative childhood years. Second was the impact that experiences had on their mental health and psychological well-being with feelings of shame, fear, self-loathing, as well as decreased self-esteem and confidence experienced in the immediate aftermath – though the longer-term negative emotions reported were enduring feelings of anger alongside a constant state of anxiety from feelings of vulnerability to further victimisation. The final theme was the modification of behaviour after experiencing street harassment where women choose to avoid walking alone on the streets or consciously changed their clothing choices, to avoid being harassed.
Originality/value
This study offers a further qualitative insight into the real-life experience and psychological consequences of street harassment upon survivors’ mental health.
Pozostałe osiągnięcia naukoweArtykuły (zamknięty dostęp)Journal article
