Porcelain Publishing / JNH / Volume 2 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.47297/ppijnh2026020102
ARTICLE

Moral Injury in Medical Students: A Review of Associated Factors and Intervention Strategies

Binbin Lin1† Zhihui Yu2† Guiru Xu1*
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1 School of Nursing, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350122, Fujian, China
2 Department of Oncology, 900th Hospital of Joint Logistics Support Force, Fuzhou 350025, Fujian, China

†Binbin Lin and Zhihui Yu are co-first authors with equal contribution to this article

Published: 24 March 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Abstract

Moral injury is a critical moral and psychological issue in medical education, profoundly affecting students’ wellbeing and professional identity. Traditional constructs like moral distress and burnout fail to fully capture its moral essence and structural roots. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the conceptualization, distinguishing features, associated factors, and intervention strategies of moral injury in medical students. It suggests strengthening multi-level interventions, clarifying conceptual boundaries, and developing targeted assessment tools to protect students’ moral integrity, providing a reference for medical education practice and future research.

Keywords
Medical students
Moral injury
Associated factors
Intervention strategies
Funding
This study was supported by grants from the Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program of School of Nursing, Fujian Medical University (Grant Nos. 25).
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