This event is open to Boston College students studying nursing, theology, social work, and education, as well as other Boston College faculty, staff, and students interested in learning more about moral distress. Nursing students will have the opportunity to earn Continuing Education (CE) credits for participating.

The goal of the conference/workshop is to give graduate students in nursing, theology, and education (as well as any other interested students) the opportunity to learn about moral distress and how tools from the liberal arts (e.g., literature, writing, music, and spirituality) may facilitate the exploration and mitigation of it. The term “moral distress” was coined by Andrew Jameton in 1984 to describe the experience of nurses who felt they knew the right thing to do for their patients, but were constrained from taking the right course of action, largely because of institutional constraints. The term took hold and has now been used to describe this phenomenon in other providers beyond nursing and across diverse healthcare settings. Our event is intended to address this critical issue as many graduate students in the Boston College community may have experienced it, or will be experiencing it, in their roles as nurses, chaplains, teachers, and social workers as a result of the ongoing effects of the global pandemic.

The sessions in the one day conference/workshop will be led by Boston College faculty experts, as well as current students. These informative and experiential sessions will build on insights from empirically based studies that suggest that the arts and humanities are resources for healing from moral distress. The event will be a contribution to the existing and growing body of work surrounding moral distress, given the use of the arts and humanities in innovative and novel ways to explore and address moral distress. The event will contribute to the Boston College community by addressing an issue that frontline workers in our community may be facing or may face in the future.

Please register to attend.

This is event is generously funded by a Major Grant from the Boston College Institute for the Liberal Arts.