COVID-19: London, Ont. researchers to study impact on brain of ‘moral injury’ in health-care workers

Researchers out of Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University’ Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry will be examining the impacts of what’s known as “moral injury” on the brains of health-care workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A moral injury involves injury to a person’s moral conscience and can happen when someone sees or does something, or fails to prevent something, that conflicts with their morals. As a result, people are often left with profound guilt and shame.

Researchers argue that some health-care workers have experienced situations amid the pandemic that could have resulted in moral injury.

“Those suffering from moral injury have a cognitive or thinking component which may include repeated thoughts that they didn’t provide the best care for, example, or that they let their family down do to their intense work schedule or need to self-isolate,” explains Dr. Ruth Lanius, associate scientist at Lawson, Schulich professor and London Health Sciences Centre psychiatrist.

“We are trying to look closely at what happens in the brain when a person recalls a moral injury event. By understanding the changes happening in the brain, we may be better able to treat individuals suffering from moral injury.”

The study involving health-care workers will involve 60 participants who will undergo a functional MRI scan at the beginning of the study. The participants will have the option to receive eight weeks of treatment followed by another MRI scan to see if and how the brain changes.

Lanius adds that the MRIs can be “very validating” for health-care workers, as they can “make the invisible wound of moral injury visible.”

The team aims to better understand what networks of the brain are activated with moral injury in hopes of improving treatment.

The study is still seeking participants and interested health-care workers are asked to contact research co-ordinator Suzy Southwell at 519-685-8500 ext. 35186 or suzy.southwell@lhsc.on.ca.

This is not Lawson’s first foray into the field of moral injury. In January 2020, Lawson announced a two-year study into moral injury among veterans.