In this presentation entitled, Dr. Maguen begins by defining moral injury and offers a conceptual framework through which to discuss the precursors to moral injury as well as its signs and symptoms. She briefly discusses how moral injury is a unique construct that has some overlap with PTSD, yet is distinctly different. Dr. Magen Also reviews moral injury research in Veterans and also some burgeoning work in moral injury and healthcare workers in the context of the pandemic.  Then the talk will focus on to recognizing and assessing moral injury (including a brief review of existing measures). 

Learning Objectives

Following this presentations you will be able to:

  • Define moral injury and describe its signs and symptoms
  • Describe a conceptual framework for moral injury
  • Recognize moral injury in their own clinical care
  • Identify tools that can be used to assess the moral injury
  • Describe research on preliminary treatments for moral injury


Course Structure

Completing this on-demand course will result in a 3 CE (3 hours) credits certificate. In order to earn your credits, you are required to read the content, watch the webinar, complete a survey, and submit a small final assignment.

The Presenter

Ph.D.

Shira Maguen

Shira Maguen, Ph.D. is Mental Health Director of the Post-9/11 Integrated Care Clinic and Staff Psychologist on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team (PCT) at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS), and Professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF School of Medicine. Dr. Maguen was appointed to and served on the Creating Options for Veterans' Expedited Recovery (COVER) Commission. She is also the San Francisco site co-lead for the VA Women’s Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) and Director of the SFVAHCS PTSD MIRECC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Dr. Maguen completed her internship and postdoctoral training at the National Center for PTSD at the VA Boston Healthcare System after receiving her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Georgia State University. She is involved with both the research and clinical components of the PTSD program. Her research interests fall under the umbrella of PTSD, moral injury, and suicide, and include risk and resilience factors in veterans, with a particular focus on female veterans. Dr. Maguen was the recipient of a VA Health Services Research and Development Grant that examined the impact of killing in veterans of war and moral injury and is currently conducting a multi-site trial examining a novel treatment for veterans who have killed in war. She has three additional grants to develop an eating disorder screen and self-diagnostic tool for the Veteran population, to examine rates of eating disorders in the military population, and to test a treatment for PTSD and moral injury. She recently completed two additional grants that examine the effectiveness of evidence-based treatments in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans via natural language processing and the effectiveness of a behaviorally-based treatment for insomnia (BBTI) in primary care. Dr. Maguen is the author of over 140 peer-reviewed publications, most of which focus on veteran mental health. She also works in a clinical capacity within the Post-9/11 Integrated Care Clinic and treating veterans with evidence-based treatments for PTSD. She supervises research health fellows and other trainees in evidence-based treatments for PTSD, and provides mentorship for trauma-focused research fellows.

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