Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Registered Nurses work in hierarchical and gendered organizations. They face many of the same constraints and limits to their autonomy and decision making that subordinate workers in other occupations experience. The subordinate position of nurses in health care organizations interferes with their ability to act in accordance with their most cherished values and therefore challenges their ability to maintain their moral integrity. A qualitative study was undertaken to identify the practices nurses use to maintain their moral integrity and to discover patterns in nurses' use of these practices. Using Grounded Theory methods, seventeen randomly selected Registered Nurses were interviewed about times in their practices when their most cherished values were challenged or threatened by the decisions of more powerful others. Interviews were tape recorded, transcribed and analyzed using open coding technique. Analysis of the interview data revealed that nurses use four categories of practices to maintain their moral integrity: integrity-seeking practices, integrity-diminishing practices, integrity-repairing practices, and integrity-preserving practices. Data also indicated that nurses alternate or zigzag between all four practice categories in their attempts to act in accordance with their cherished values, rather than relying exclusively on practices in one category or steadily progressing toward an increased reliance on practices that preserve integrity. The findings of this study challenge the conventional concept of moral integrity as the unconditional commitment to fundamental values. They lend support, instead, to a sociological construction that considers moral integrity as the balancing of competing values. Moral integrity is constructed as a matter of degree rather than an all-or-nothing virtue. The findings argue for understanding the maintenance of moral integrity as a lifelong or career-long process of learning "to get it right" rather than the achievement of moral excellence. This research has implications for nursing practice. Chief among them is the need for nurses to better understand their sociological position in the organization of health care. Such an understanding will help nurses appreciate the challenges and complexity of maintaining moral integrity within the context of health care institutions. Additionally, this study points to the need for nurses and the Profession of Nursing to examine the integrity-diminishing practices nurses use. Many of these are subtle and insidious tactics, and nurses need to find more morally comfortable alternatives. Further research that involves theoretical sampling with a larger cohort of nurses will refine and further the hypotheses generated here. Such research may also help to identify the correlates of nurses' choice of integrity practice. / 2999-01-01

This thesis deals with two constructs - social desirability and integrity. The main aim of this thesis is to create an interview which will allow to distinguish people by their level of integrity and their tendency to respond in a socially desirable manner. The interview can serve as a face-to-face variant of questionnaire methods. Theoretical foundations of both social desirability as well as integrity are presented in the theoretical part of the thesis. Complexity of both constructs is considered. Therefore, approaches of various authors are presented. Methods for assessing socially desirable responding in self- reports as well as integrity are also presented as part of the theoretical section of this thesis. The effects of social desirability on integrity assessment is discussed, as well. In the empirical part of the thesis the development of the semi-structured interview is described. The interview was developed based on original Czech test battery focusing on personal integrity at the workplace. Specifically, questionnaire Integrita v pracovním a běžném životě alongside with questionnaire assessing social desirability was used. The semi-structured interview contains a total of eight questions. Each question includes short story, and the respondent is asked to judge his / her behavior in this...

Mobbing has found space in the modern work relationships. The change of rhythm, the high competitiveness and the fear of unemployment are factors which contextualize these work environments. The psicoterror, Marie-France Hirigoyen s denomination, arises from actions like gestures, verbal or physical aggressions, as well as omissions, isolating the victim and leaving her without the essential information to development his/hers activities. The mobbing s characterization and punishment are surrounded by a high degree of subjectivity because of its forms of aggression that usually leaves no traces. Therefore, it s necessary to study and understand the forms of repression the psicoterror, considering the concept of a supranational right, the moral integrity of workers. Means that recognition occurs at the international level, above the states orders. Besides affecting the rules of reception of international treaties on human rights, the supranational nature of the workers rights ratified the discourse of relativized sovereignty and imposes to the internal organization the creation of actions for its protection. The actions can be preventatives, through public politics, community action, standards of work s organization, lectures, or repressives, based on the subsystem of the offender s responsibility. The case studies revealed that, in Brazil and other countries, violence against workers has proved to be one of the most serious human rights violations. / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / O assédio moral encontrou espaço nas relações de trabalho modernas. A mudança do ritmo de trabalho, a alta competitividade e o medo do desemprego são fatores que contextualizam esses ambientes de trabalho. O psicoterror, como denomina Marie-France Hirigoyen, surge de ações como gestos, agressões verbais ou físicas, bem como de omissões, isolando a vítima e deixando de transmitir a ela informações essenciais para o desenvolvimento de sua atividade. A caracterização do assédio moral e sua punição estão envolvidas por um alto grau de subjetividade, pois são formas de agressão que geralmente não deixam vestígios concretos. Por isso, é preciso estudar e compreender as formas de repressão ao psicoterror partindo do conceito de supraestatalidade do direito à integridade moral dos trabalhadores. Significa que seu reconhecimento ocorre no plano internacional, acima das ordens estatais. Além de afetar as regras de recepção dos tratados internacionais sobre direitos humanos, a supraestatalidade dos direitos de personalidade dos trabalhadores ratifica o discurso da soberania relativizada e impõe ao ordenamento interno a organização de ações para sua proteção. As medidas podem ser preventivas, por meio de políticas públicas, ações comunitárias, normas de organização de trabalho, palestras, ou repressivas, com base no subsistema de responsabilização do agressor. O estudo dos casos revelou que, no Brasil e em outros países, a violência contra os trabalhadores tem se mostrado uma das principais violações aos direitos humanos.