Canadian Moral Injury Research Community of Practice

What is moral injury?

Moral injury refers to the psychological, social and spiritual impact of events or acts that a person performs, witnesses or fails to prevent, which conflict with one’s own deeply held moral beliefs and values.

What is the Canadian Moral Injury Research Community of Practice?

A research community of practice (CoP) is composed of a group of researchers who share a common interest in a particular topic or area. The members of a CoP typically have diverse backgrounds and expertise and come from different institutions and disciplines.

The Canadian Moral Injury Research Community of Practice (MI CoP) aims to promote cross-disciplinary knowledge-sharing and collaboration on moral injury as it pertains to active and former members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and their Families, health care workers and public safety personnel. Members engage in ongoing conversations, exchange information and ideas and participate in joint activities.

The Canadian MI CoP is a platform for Canadian researchers to learn from one another, build bridges across disciplines, promote the integration of multiple perspectives and facilitate the development of new ideas and approaches to inquiries on moral injury.

In addition to exchanging information and expertise, the MI CoP explores timely and deep questions about the construct of moral injury and aims to generate new knowledge in this area. By fostering a collaborative environment, the MI CoP generates insights into a multidisciplinary understanding of moral injury, paving the way for more effective interventions and supports for those experiencing its effects.

The Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families is the convenor of the MI CoP and provides essential support and coordination to ensure its smooth functioning and growth. Our team enables communication between researchers and facilitates the sharing of knowledge, resources and research findings to drive the Canadian moral injury research community forward.

Members and affiliations

Co-chairs

• Anthony Nazarov, PhD, PMP
  Associate Scientific Director, MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre
• Suzette Brémault-Phillips, PhD, MA, BMR, BSc
  Professor, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine — Occupational Therapy; Director, Heroes in Mind, Advocacy and Research Consortium (HiMARC)

Members

• Andrea Ashbaugh, PhD, C.Psych
  Associate Professor, Psychology, University of Ottawa
• Stéphanie Bélanger, CD, PhD
  Associate Scientific Director, Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR); Professor, Royal Military College
• Katherine Bright, PhD, RN
  Assistant Professor, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Mount Royal University
• Walter Callaghan, PhD candidate, Anthropology, University of Toronto
• Bethany Easterbrook, PhD candidate, Clinical Psychology, McMaster University
• Fardous Hosseiny, MSc, CHE
  President and CEO, Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families
• Stephanie Houle, PhD
  Associate Scientist, MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre; Senior Researcher, Research Directorate, Veterans Affairs Canada
• Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, FRCPC
  Professor, Psychiatry, Western University
• David Malloy, PhD
  President, King’s University College at Western University
• Margaret C. McKinnon, PhD, C.Psych
  Professor and Associate Chair, Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University; Homewood Research Chair in Mental Health and Trauma
• Sara Rodrigues, PhD
  Director, Applied Research, Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families
• Lorraine Smith-MacDonald, PhD
  Co-Chair and Assistant Professor, Department of Psychotherapy and Spirituality, St. Stephen’s College
• Megan Thompson, PhD
  Defence Scientist, Defence Research and Development Canada

For the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families

• Robin Dziekan, Network and Partnerships Lead
• Francesca Tellis, Executive Coordinator

Current research

Canadian MI CoP members are currently working on a range of diverse studies. Current research underway includes studies to:

• Develop reliable and valid measurement tools for moral injury
• Explore the contextual (e.g. social, cultural, economic) factors that contribute to or shape experiences of moral injury
• Assess and evaluate the extent and impact of moral injury on individuals
• Explore the lived experiences of people who have experienced potentially morally injurious events or who live with moral injury

Publications

Houle S., Ein, N., Gervasio, J., Plouffe, R.A.., Litz, B.T., Carleton, R.N., Hansen, K.T., Liu, J.J.W., Ashbaugh, A.R., Callaghan, W., Thompson, M.M., Easterbrook, B., Smith-MacDonald, L., Rodrigues, S., Bélanger, S.A.H., Bright, K., Lanius, R.A., Baker, C., Younger, W., Brémault-Phillips, S., Hosseiny, F., Richardson, J.D., Nazarov, A. and the Atlas Institute Moral Injury Research Community of Practice. Measuring moral distress and moral injury: A systematic review and content analysis of existing scales. Clinical Psychology Review, 108, 102377. doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102377